One of the hot topics in mixed martial arts currently is drug testing as the Nevada State Athletic Commission is going forward with more random drug testing.
Along with what the Nevada Commission is doing, the California State Athletic Commission is planning to begin more drug testing of fighters who compete in their state.
The California Commission will regulate tomorrow night’s Bellator 122 from the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula and the event will be headlined by the final of the season ten middleweight tournament as Brett Cooper faces Brandon Halsey.
Cooper talked to TheMMAReport.com yesterday about his fight against Halsey and the full interview will be played on tomorrow’s edition of “The MMA Report Podcast.” During the interview, the subject turned to drug testing. According to Cooper, he has not been drug tested at this time by the commission, but he is expecting to get tested following his fight tomorrow night. Also, Cooper said he is all for random blood testing year round.
“I don’t care, you can drug test me 365 days a year,” Cooper told TheMMAReport.com. “That’s good. I think that needs to happen. I expect probably an urine test before or after the fight, either is fine with me, I don’t care. I am all for the 365 random blood testing and things like that. I think it needs to happen. You don’t want guys to receive extra damage because they guy is taking stuff that makes him stronger and he can hit harder, train harder, and things like that.”
The subject would turn to the decision by the Nevada State Athletic Commission to grant Vitor Belfort a license to fight in December, even though he took an out of competition drug test in February that came back with high levels of testosterone. Cooper does not agree with the decision the commission made and called Belfort a cheater.
“With the news today that they gave Vitor Belfort his license, I think it a bunch of [expletive] bulls**t. The guy is a cheater. How many times do we have to see that he is a different person when he is not on something and when he is on something. It’s just like well now he is not going to take testosterone. It’s not there is not a billion other options that he has that he can replace what was giving him from testosterone.”
Check out the portion of Cooper’s appearance on “The MMA Report Podcast,” where he discusses the current state of drug testing in MMA.