USADA’s partnership with the UFC managed to catch several big names using PEDs when the partnership first started. However, the amount of high profile suspensions has drastically fallen in recent years.
The last high profile suspension is probably current interim champion Yair Rodriguez, who got suspended for 6 months for 3 whereabouts failures back in 2020.
But while USADA might be asleep on the job, UFC stars are noticing what’s happening. Tis led to some serious accusations after UFC 284. Dan Hooker publicized his belief that Makhachev had ordered an IV after the weigh ins – and Makhachev’s teammate Zubaira Tukhugov even confirmed it in a private conversation going so far as to allege that UFC turns a blind eye when major stars do it.
Now Hooker is providing his first interview after the scandal. He told Allstar:
“I want to hear him I want to hear his response to it. How do I discredit something he hasn’t denied. He comes out and denies it, then how do I discredit them? Because I can discredit them.”
“Why should I show all of my cards when he hasn’t even responded to their accusations?”
Unbeknownst to Hooker, Makhachev has come out and deny the reports of IV use during a press conference in Dagestan.
Hooker went on to claim he has an actual receipt from the IV company that was paid to deliver the IV.
“How do I discredit something he hasn’t denied? He comes out and denies it, I’ll discredit them. That’s a fact. If you know what I mean, if I said I had receipts, I have actual receipt. There’s having receipts, that’s a term or phrase, and then there’s having the actual receipt that he paid for getting the IV.”
“That’s a factual statement. That wasn’t wasn’t a metaphorical term.”
“They’ve legitimately been getting away with it for so long um because they haven’t been fighting in the US. Because they haven’t been fighting overseas. They’ve just been doing it
so long that they thought it was legal. That’s the reality of the situation.”
Khabib Nurmagomedov hasn’t competed in US since UFC 229 against Conor McGregor, his last two bouts were both in Abu Dhabi and both featured suspicious looking weigh ins.
Makhachev competed in Abu Dhabi twice – against Charles Oliveira at UFC 280 and against Dan Hooker at UFC 267. THe one event where Makhachev didn’t compete in the US – was at catchweight 160lbs. He faced late day replacement Bobby Green after Beneil Dariush broke his ankle. This was at the UFC Apex.
Hooker went on to reveal he’s being excessively tested in the fall out from the accusations:
“Two three knocks on my door at 6 a.m. by USADA, blood and piss over the last couple of weeks and you think that’s a coincidence?”
” But it’s like on the same hand you think I’m just gonna like shut up and bite my tongue?”
“You think I’m gonna you think I’m gonna sit silent while other guys are skirting the rules when I got some stranger knock on my door asking me to pull my pants down. It’s like brother. I ain’t playing this game.”