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    Jeff Novitzky: How the man who took down Lance Armstrong is cleaning up the UFC

    Many people may not recognise the name Jeff Novitzky, but his work has had a significant impact on the world of sports. Novitzky is the Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is in charge of implementing one of the most comprehensive anti-doping programmes in professional sports. This is a far cry from Novitzky’s beginnings as a federal agent for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the United States.

    When Novitzky was asked to lead a criminal investigation into Lance Armstrong’s use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) in cycling, it was a watershed moment in his career. Novitzky spent three years investigating Armstrong, but the case was eventually dropped by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California. Armstrong was never charged with a crime, but he was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and admitted to doping in an interview with Oprah Winfrey.

    Novitzky was disappointed that the investigation was closed, but he believes that the same end goal was achieved: the exposure of Armstrong and the US Postal Cycling Team, as well as professional cycling in general. The Armstrong case was a major factor in Novitzky’s appointment as UFC president in 2015, where he has been instrumental in cleaning up the sport.

    Novitzky earned the moniker “Golden Snitch” for his role in exposing drug cheats. Dana White, the UFC president, still refers to him as “the guy who took down Lance Armstrong.” Novitzky says he has accepted the nickname and believes that people value a sense of humour, even if “snitch” is not the best nickname to have.

    Since Novitzky’s appointment, the UFC’s doping landscape has shifted dramatically. The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) was hired as the UFC’s independent anti-doping agency. According to Novitzky, USADA was chosen because they “only care about clean sport” and “do not care about the revenue and business success of the UFC.” USADA has complete control over how many fighters are tested and when they are tested, and they have the authority to test athletes at any time of day or night, 365 days a year.

    All UFC fighters are eligible for USADA testing, while athletes who withdraw from the pool must re-enter it for six months and provide at least two negative samples before they can compete again. In 2020, USADA tested UFC fighters 4,352 times, which is almost double the 2,289 tests they conducted in 2016, one year into the programme.

    Prior to the involvement of Novitzky and USADA in the UFC, athletes were only subjected to Athletic Commission testing, which usually occurred during the week of a fight rather than all year. If fighters were thinking about cheating, Novitzky says all they had to do was make sure any drugs were out of their system by the time Athletic Commission testing came around. Novitzky believes that anti-doping and drug testing in MMA are more important than in any other sport because these are the world’s most talented martial artists.

    According to Novitzky, eliminating the doping culture in the UFC has contributed to the sport’s and brand’s increased popularity. He believes that if the anti-doping programme had not been implemented, the sport would have faced serious problems, as an enhanced athlete could seriously injure their opponent. Novitzky claims that the anti-doping programme has received “overwhelmingly positive” feedback from fighters. Prior to the involvement of USADA, many athletes chose to dope in order to “level the playing field,” as a minority of athletes were using drugs.

    Main Image: BBC

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