Chael Sonnen, former UFC title challenger, has weighed in on the company parting awys with United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), and opines that the decision of the USADA CEO Travis Tygart has not been very smart.
Following a partnership that stretched over nine years, USADA and UFC are soon to split up as Tygart made the official announcement on Wednesday, October 11th, by stating that the arrangement with the promotion had become “untenable”.
The partnership will come to an end as the year of 2023 comes to an end and from next year, Drug Free Sport International will be in-charge of the promotion’s anti-doping program.
Speaking about the split on his YouTube channel, Sonnen opened up about his thoughts on Tygart’s statement.
“You’ve gotta have a clean sport, but what you don’t need to have if you’re a function like USADA is have anyone know you exist. They wanted to do such a big deal… You are not a speaker, you are not a thinker, you are not a drug-tester, you are not a scientist. Somewhere you got this role, just keep the suit on and take the role,” said Sonnen.
“The customer (UFC) didn’t announce they were gonna go in a different direction, which means it wasn’t there yet. It’s all part of a negotiation… When Tygart comes out with his statement and buries the UFC… I am left to wonder, was he trying to do damage to his own client or was he trying to negotiate? He might have thought, ‘I’m in the middle of a negotiation. I’ve got a Hail Mary pass left and that is to get the media and have the media put pressure on the organization to bring them back to me.’ He might have thought that, he’s not a thinker this guy… This is not a smart guy,” he added. [H/T MMA News]
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