When it comes to potential PED scandals in the UFC, the company’s president, Dana White, says he’s not losing any sleep over them.
A recent report from ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” suggested that athletes from numerous sports are tied to a Miami clinic, Biogenesis, for having received performance-enhancing drugs from its owner, Tony Bosch. Mixed martial arts, according to the report, was one of those sports.
Porter Fischer, the man who revealed documents to the Miami newspaper that initially reported the clinic’s PED scandal, would not name the athletes, but the UFC boss is confident his fighters aren’t involved.
It’s not even [a concern]. Not even at all. Not even a little bit,” White recently told GRACIEMAG.com’s Choke MMA Show. “The difference … [between] our sport and the other sports is the guys get tested every time they fight … It would be more an embarrassing pain in the ass if somebody popped up on there. It’s not like a baseball player … playing so many games and nobody knew.”
The possibility of UFC fighters being linked to the Miami clinic is less than minimal, according to White. The fact that no one beyond the press is asking about it gives the UFC executive a strong indication that none of his fighters are tied to the scandal that is currently shaking up Major League Baseball.
Porter Fischer (pictured) said that MMA athletes are tied to the Biogenesis PED scandal. Photo by Nicole Noren/ESPN.
“I would have to think that if my guys were on that list, we would’ve heard about it already,” White said. “Not only did we not hear about it, I didn’t even know about it until they told me the other day at [UFC on Fox 8].”
Fischer told ESPN that the scandal has been going on since at least 2009. He and his associates, according to the outlet, have identified athletes from the NBA, NCAA, boxing, tennis and baseball, in addition to mixed martial arts.
While he didn’t say how many MMA fighters are linked to the scandal, Fischer said that the overall number of athletes tied to the clinic’s PED disbursement reaches into the triple digits.
“In just the four years that I know, it’s got to be well over a hundred, easy,” Fischer told ESPN. “It’s almost scary to think about how many people have gone through [Bosch’s treatments] and how long he’s gotten away with this.”
