Some Want Olympic-Style Drug Testing in MMA: Why Not?

As I'm sure some are very aware, one of the major buzzes off of yesterday's media day for the upcoming Ultimate Fighter season was a question unlike any question asked before to Josh Koscheck or Georges St-Pierre.

The question was posed to both men asking their opinion about a more stringent drug testing procedure for fighters—an opinion which was found to be mutual in both the welterweight king of the UFC and his brash contender.

MMA Junkie's John Morgan reports:

"I have no problem; any time he wants," St-Pierre said. "I stand for that more than anybody else. I stand for this, and I just hope it's going to happen soon. I know a lot of people cheat in this sport, and it's unacceptable.

"I'm for random drug testing. There's nobody in the UFC that agrees more with random testing then me...Anything they want, I don't care. I give my body to science."

Koscheck's opinion isn't much different from St-Pierre's. He, too, thinks that it'd be great for the sport if the random drug tests were done akin to the way it's done in the Olympics.

What Koscheck also said, at the media day conference in the UFC Training Center in Las Vegas, is just something he...shall we say, "heard from the grapevine"?

"From what I've heard from other fighters in other camps, yeah, [St-Pierre] has done steroids and HGH, possibly," Koscheck told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "I don't know. This is just on hearsay information that I've gotten.

"B.J. Penn and his camp gave me a little phone call. They were saying, 'Yeah, he's on steroids. He's this; he's that.' I said, 'Yeah, there's a possibility.' The guy is pretty ripped all year round."

Did Koscheck say this just to aggravate the champ? Or is there some truth to Koscheck's—or should we be saying, BJ Penn's—words about GSP?

With the current drug testing system of the various state athletic commissions, only the athletic commissions' standardized urine tests might have an effect close to what the Olympic method would.

The Olympic method, in addition to urine testing, also tests athletes for illegal substances of both the recreational and performance-enhancement varieties by testing the blood of the athletes.

If positive, the test could reveal that a fighter has used various hormones, anabolic agents, and a wide variety of other substances in order to prepare for their fight.

In Mixed Martial Arts, you have a plethora of fighters who claim to be clean, but then you have accusations such as Penn's that rise up or you have situations like what occurred after Sean Sherk defended the lightweight title against Hermes Franca at UFC 73.

Both fighters tested positive for illegal substances, which cost Sherk his title.

If Koscheck's hearsay from the BJ Penn camp is right—if the pound-for-pound best weltwerweight in the world really is using performance enhancers—it would take a blood test to prove that the enhancers taken by St-Pierre are not limited to just steroids.

If there is a question as to whether or not other fighters are using, then this doesn't seem like too bad of an idea.

As a matter of fact, this doesn't seem like any degree of a bad idea at all.

Have the commissions randomly test both fighters' urine and blood, and see if anything, including any substances taken to mask the enhancers, are in the bloodstream.

The commissions will know what to do if anything is found, as will the promoters.

In this case, "promoters" really means "Dana White."

St-Pierre believes cheaters should be caught and get what they have coming, while Koscheck—whether he really believes it himself or not—thinks that perhaps his next challenge should look itself in the mirror before it fingers those who are caught using these agents.

Some people will call this a great idea. Others will say it's not so great.

Some might even dare to call it terrible—but I wouldn't mind it.

If this type of testing means I can remember Koscheck-St-Pierre II for the fight itself and not for the pre-fight or post-fight accusations of taking performance enhancers, then I say this:

Let them draw blood, and hope they test clean.