UFC Fight & Latest News: Georges St-Pierre Ready to Return But Wants Third-Party Drug-Testing Program
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre declared that he is ready to return to the UFC Octagon after recovering from an injury, but he cannot see it happening anytime soon.
St-Pierre said that he has fully recovered from a second knee surgery to repair a torn ACL but will only fight again if UFC will institute a third-party drug-testing program to clean the sport.
"I'm wealthy and I'm happy. I retired on top. I don't need to risk taking a fight again. Maybe I would get someone who is cheating," St-Pierre told ESPN. "If I fight again, I want a fair fight. I want it to be legit. Right now, the system is not in place for that."
St-Pierre, who has not fought since successfully defending his welterweight title against Johny Hendricks in November 2013, has been pushing for third-party drug testing over the past several years to ensure that fighters are training for a fight cleanly.
State athletic commissions are conducting drug test for UFC matches, but St-Pierre has previously questioned the process because the commissions are entitled to get a portion of the fight revenue. He said that a third-party drug-testing program will make fighters hesitate to cheat in training.
"If we would do third-party tests, it would scare the steroid users and it would change the face of the sport," St-Pierre said. "Trust me. Entire rankings would change. Whether people want to believe it or not, it's a huge problem."
For St-Pierre, fighters should undergo random and Olympic-style drug testing. Before his fight against Hendricks, the Canadian mixed martial arts superstars volunteered to pay for tests to be conducted by Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA). St-Pierre tried to convince Hendricks to undergo such test, but his challenger declined.
UFC was rocked by another controversy last week when former middleweight champion Anderson Silva tested positive for steroids in a pre-fight drug test. The UFC 183 fight card pushed through because the Nevada State Athletic Commission got the result just days after the fight.
St-Pierre said that the recent incidents are proofs that UFC should consider other options and reiterated that VADA's protocol is way different than that of athletic commissions.
"I've never been tested by an athletic commission as good as I was tested by VADA," St-Pierre said. "The commissions, it's not their expertise. One time, [an NSAC collector] came in with his fingers in [my sample cup]. I don't know this guy. Maybe he just did cocaine and now it's in my sample. I don't think so, but I don't know."
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