UFC to Continue Anti-Doping Program in Partnership with Drug Free Sport International

As the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s partnership with the United States Anti-Doping Agency comes to an end in December 2023, the Las Vegas-based promotion already has another deal with a sport drug testing organization in place.

In a Thursday press conference, UFC Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell and Senior Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance Jeff Novitzky revealed that the UFC will be partnering with Drug Free Sport International for their anti-doping program starting Jan 1. 2024.

While many wondered what route the promotion would take in terms of drug testing following the less than amicable split with USADA, it is clear the UFC intends to stick to a third-party independent organization overseeing their anti-doping program.

“Drug Free Sport International currently handles collection duties for the following professional sports leagues, they have 325 long-term tenured sports clients including the NFL, NCAA, Major League Baseball, NBA, WNBA, NASCAR, horse racing integrity and welfare unit, PGA, LPGA, FIFA and Crossfit. They actually help out with some drug testing with various National Anti-Doping Authorities throughout the world and various sports federations. They virtually collect samples for everybody,” said Novitzky.

Furthermore, the senior vice president of athlete health and performance announced that Dr. Daniel Eichner will serve as the new science advisor overseeing testing and results.

“Dr. Dan Eichner runs the Sports Medicine Testing and Research Laboratory in Salt Lake City, also known as SMRTL, one of two United States [World Anti-Doping Agency] accredited anti-doping laboratories, the highest accreditation standard in anti-doping in the world... He will be our science advisor. He’s going to direct the program on test distribution, smarter testing planning, more efficient testing planning. He will evaluate the testing results in the program and make recommendations to our independent administrator.”

Additionally, Novitzky also announced that George Piro, a retired special agent-in-charge from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, will now serve as the independent administrator of the new anti-doping program. Piro is widely recognized for being the lead interrogator who questioned Saddam Hussein following his 2003 capture by American forces in Iraq.

Novitzky made it a point to emphasize the independent nature of the role Piro is set to assume stating:

“George will make every -- and I stress every -- final decision in the program. That authority will be his and his alone.”