There was no drug testing at UFC 69 and UFC 70. UFC 69 was held in Houston, Texas and UFC 70 was held in Manchester, England. Read on for the gory details.
What were the reasons around this mishap? The short answer can be found in Marc Ratner’s words concerning UFC 70, “We were ordering tests, but found we had no legal means to do it,” said Ratner. “They had no commission there (in Manchester). There was no drug testing there.”.
What Marc Ratner is referring to is the UFC is a promoter, not a sanctioning body. Therefore they cannot legally be both Judge and Jury. At UFC 69 there was a miscommunication. According to the Texas Department of Licenses and Regulations, “We have the authority to order drug testing, but did not for that event,” said a TDLR spokesman. “Our rules didn’t anticipate a structure like this (where there is no sanctioning body for an event).”
Texas is new to MMA and therefore set up under the old boxing model where the event would bring it’s own promoter and sanctioning body. Usually the promoter was the main agent handling the event and the sanctioning body would be someone like the WBC. MMA isn’t run that way thank goodness. the UFC is the promoter and it uses the states as its sanctioning body. This provides a conformity for match making and also puts the legal work where it belongs, at the state level.
Needless to say, these little details have to be worked out by the UFC to provide legitimacy for the budding sport of MMA.