The UFC has said it has hired the former FBI agent in charge of Saddam Hussein’s interrogation, as it plans a new drug-testing programme.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) announced this week that it will not renew its partnership with the UFC in January, claiming that an ongoing saga around Conor McGregor’s return has created an ‘untenable’ situation.
McGregor returned to the Usada testing pool on Sunday (8 October), as the former champion prepares for his first fight since suffering a broken leg in July 2021, when he lost to Dustin Poirier for the second time in a row.
However, Usada’s announcement of McGregor’s return to the pool was accompanied by a revelation that the agency would be ending its partnership with the UFC in January. Usada CEO Travis Tygart said he could not be sure whether the UFC would honour its stipulations when it comes to McGregor.
In order to compete in the UFC, athletes must have been in the Usada pool for six months while returning at least two negative test results and zero positives. The UFC and McGregor hinted earlier this year, however, that Usada might grant the former champion an exemption. Tygart took exception to that suggestion this week.
Since then, the UFC’s Senior Vice-President of Athlete Health and Performance, Jeff Notitzky, and the promotion’s CBO, Hunter Campbell, have taken aim at Usada over this week’s developments. Novitzky also declared that the UFC’s next anti-doping programme, which will involve a partnership with Drug Free Sport, will be overseen by George Piro.
Lebanese-born Piro, 52, is a former FBI special agent who was in charge of the bureau’s Miami Field Office. In 2004, he led the team that interrogated former Iraqi president Hussein, prior to the dictator’s execution after being sentenced by an Iraqi court in 2006.
According to Novitzky, Drug Free Sport will send athletes’ samples to the SMRTL (Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory), which is run by Dr Dan Eichner. There, results will be analysed before being passed on to Piro.
Athletes will then state their case to Piro, who will act as the UFC’s sole adjudicator prior to an official arbitration process.
Piro left the FBI in July 2022.
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