In a fiery Thursday press conference, two UFC executives outlined the reasons the company is choosing to split with USADA, their new partner and protocol for testing, and potential legal ramifications for their treatment of Conor McGregor.
Chief business officer Hunter Campbell and senior vice president of athlete health and performance Jeff Novitsky spoke to the media for nearly an hour, at times getting emotional about
USADA's revelation Wednesday that UFC was not renewing their deal at the end of the year and their implications that McGregor was getting special treatment.
Campbell said UFC sent a legal letter to USADA Wednesday night that will be released to online media soon. He said that when he and Novitsky told USADA they were leaving, USADA CEO Travis Tygart "lost his mind" and was "completely unhinged." Campbell said Tygart later confirmed that no one in UFC ever told USADA that McGregor could fight without being in the program for six months.
Campbell, who has been working closely with McGregor, said he didn't care how many times McGregor tested clean and that he wasn't fighting until that six months had passed. He said McGregor volunteered to re-enter the USADA testing program even though he was told UFC would be parting ways with them.
"What they have done to (McGregor) is disgusting. For a entity that holds themselves out to have honor and integrity, using him as a media vehicle to advance a fake narrative is disturbing, disgusting and I think they have some legitimate legal liability they should be very concerned with," Campbell said.
He said McGregor is 100% in the USADA pool and that the former two-division champion has "conducted himself with integrity and honesty" and is "very upset at the moment with how (USADA) has used him." He said he told Tygart that McGregor wasn't fighting in December no matter what he says.
Campbell said USADA runs like a dictatorship and that they weren't used to dealing with someone like McGregor who is an independent contractor vs. athletes they usually deal with who make a pittance compared to McGregor and will do whatever they say.
"They like being able to be the authority figure to tell you what's what," he said.
Campbell and Novitsky took issue with the "damage" Tygart and USADA has done to the UFC's Anti-Doping Program as a whole over the last 48 hours. Campbell said that they are grateful for all that USADA had done for them since they became partners in 2015 and they couldn't be at this point without them, adding the relationship was good up until the last two-to-three years.
Campbell said they have fielded calls from fighters, managers and otherwise assuming the program was done immediately with Novitsky saying half of their athletes assume there's no program.
That is not the case as USADA is contracted through year's end. Novitsky said he feels UFC has the best anti-doping program in sports and called USADA's actions and claims "false, garbage, trash."
Campbell said he believes UFC made up 25-30% of USADA revenue and feels Tygart was acting under "self preservation" as he has a board to report to.
Novitsky outlined the new program in full detail and that UFC will begin working with Drug Free Sports International for sample collection. The group has worked with the NBA, NFL, NHL, and other pro sports leagues. He feels the new program will be more efficient, smarter, more convenient for athletes and will take better advantage of technology.
Both Campbell and Novitsky took umbrage with the lack of an app to track fighter location despite repeatedly requesting it and spending millions upon millions with USADA.
Dr. Dan Eichner, who runs a lab with the highest accreditation in anti-doping, will run the UFC's laboratory analysis while former FBI special agent George Piro will be the independent administrator running the UFC program. He was the team leader of the interrogation team for former Iraq head Saddam Hussein.
Piro will have the final say based on test results with no influence from UFC leadership. An arbitration process would occur with an independent party if the athlete decided to fight a positive result.
Novitsky said there will not be testing done with fighters who are cutting weight hours before weigh-ins, retired fighters, or other strange and mistimed situations that have been a frustration for fighters and UFC for years.
Novitsky also discussed the infamous Jon Jones situation in the past with picograms of turninabol metabolites that didn't leave his system, saying Eichner pointed out that picograms could remain in someone's body for the rest of their lives.
Earlier Thursday,
UFC president Dana White previewed to Pat McAfee what was to come, saying the "you know what is about to hit the fan" and that what USADA did was a "dirty, scumbag move."
