UFC to introduce ‘approved supplements’ list in 2019

The UFC will introduce a list of approved supplements from the new year, the organisation has today confirmed.

As reported by ESPN’s Brett Okamoto on Twitter, UFC vice president of athlete health and performance Jeff Novitzky announced the news following the weigh-ins for Saturday night’s UFC 232. It comes hot on the heels of a protracted controversy surrounding the company, this weekend’s event, and headline fighter Jon Jones.

According to Novitzky, the UFC will introduce a list of company-endorsed supplements in early 2019. If an athlete subsequently tests positive for a banned substance and can trace that back to a contamination of a product on the list, they can expect their subsequent punishment to be far more lenient – if applied at all.

Interesting. Jeff Novitzky says as early as next year, UFC will have an “approved supplements” list. If fighters pop for anything that is traced to a contamination of one of these approved supplements, it will be thrown out. Sounds like a good thing for athletes to me.

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) December 28, 2018

Jones case led UFC to take drastic action

UFC 232 was moved to The Forum in Inglewood, California, having originally been scheduled to be held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Ultimately, the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) refused to license Jones in time for the event, following an ‘abnormality’ in recent USADA drug test findings.

As claimed by Novitzky, the results relate to Jones’ 2017 drug test failure for oral turinabol, with a long-term metabolite of the substance still being present in ‘picogram’ levels but ultimately not being indicative of a new ingestion. The California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) felt more comfortable licensing Jones on the back of his 15-month suspension without a full hearing, which Nevada was unwilling to do.

Jones attributed his previous failure to a ‘tainted’ supplement, although both his team and independent USADA officials were unable to locate the exact source of contamination. Today’s announcement should provide the UFC’s fighters with something of a comfort, especially as the organisation has extended its program with USADA heading into the new year, while of course, strict liability will still apply in the vast majority of cases.