UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre took a bold stance leading up to his title defense on November 16th at UFC 167 by agreeing to Olympic drug testing during training and up until the night before the fight. His opponent Johny Hendricks also agreed to these terms pre-fight but has since backed away from the intrusive testing.
The UFC only requires fighters to pass the state, in this case the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), test in reagrds to PEDs.
GSP had these things to say to MMAJunkie.com when asked about the elevated levels of testing heading into this fight:
“I want to be known as the guy who makes the difference. Football, hockey and every sport, baseball, should have the testing like the Olympic sports, and I think it’s a new step for the sport.”
He also voiced his concerns about Hendricks pulling out of the testing.
“I’m the one who fights in the cage; of course I care about testing,” St-Pierre said. “I want to have a fair fight. I don’t want to fight a guy who’s on steroids.”
“I said I was going to do it, and I’m a man of my word, so I did it. Johny said he was going to do it, but he didn’t do it. I don’t accuse nobody (of cheating), but if you want to know why he didn’t do it, you’ll have to ask him.”
St-Pierre has been accused by fighters in the past of being too lenient in regards to drug testing in his home country of Canada, which has hosted most of his previous fights. This is the perfect way of silencing those critics and showing that the most elite fighters in the world have nothing to hide.