One of the biggest anti-doping advocates in recent years has been Georges St-Pierre. In 2013 he had a memorable public back-and-forth with Johny Hendricks about an out-of-competition test he wanted used ahead of UFC 167.
Hendricks refused and St-Pierre raged at him and the UFC. Then in 2015, the UFC and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) partnered to implement a testing policy. Despite this, St-Pierre believes there are still dopers in the sport.
Speaking on the Joe Rogan podcast, St-Pierre addressed the controversy.
You asked me if I think he was taking. I don’t know. I have suspicions, but it’s not right if you don’t have the evidence to accuse someone. And even today, do I think there’s a lot of guys who take steroids and performance-enhancing drugs? Yes. And I have an idea of who, and I’m pretty, just for my gut feeling, 99.9 percent sure. But I don’t have the evidence.
It is not what you think, it’s not what you know. It’s what you can prove. And I don’t know. I’m in the game, I’m talking to a lot of people. Between fighters, we know who does. There’s only a few handful of people who do the whole thing [in regards to supplying PEDs]. One guy could do this team, this team, this team, and one other guy can do two teams. The word goes around, man. Especially when you’re a complete fighter, the word goes around.
He went on to outline how the current system is inadequate: "Let’s say I want to have an injection of a product that will last in my body for two days or one day. So I know that particular day I cannot be tested because if I am, I’m screwed. So I put on my whereabouts (For USADA) that I’m traveling to the freaking Antarctica or anywhere, somewhere that is believable, and then I come back two days after. That substance will stay in my body for a certain period of time, but the effect of it will last maybe a month."
There have been positive tests this year within the UFC, with star Jon Jones fined $205,000 and having his fighting license revoked for the banned anabolic steroid turinabol. You can watch St-Pierre's full interview here.
