Robbie Lawler Calls Out For Stricter Drug Testing In MMA

The UFC has come under extreme fire recently for, among other things, alarming drug test failures by two of their highest-profile fighters.

Light heavyweight champion Jon Jones made headlines in early January for failing a pre-fight drug test for cocaine metabolites prior to his UFC 182 win over Daniel Cormier, and longtime former middleweight champion Anderson Silva shocked the entire MMA world to its core by testing positive for two banned steroids in an out-of-competition (OOC) test for two anabolic steroids three weeks prior to his UFC 182 win over Nick Diaz.

Jones’ failure was met with little resistance, as cocaine is not a banned substance out of competition, and he committed himself for a (very) short stint in rehab while not absorbing any punishment from the NSAC and a $25,000 fine from the UFC.

Silva, on the other hand, may not come out so easy, as he is temporarily suspended, scheduled to appear before the commission to decide his fate in March or April, and may have his win changed to a No Contest.

All that adds up to an extremely disappointing opening month to 2015 despite it being, ironically enough, one of the most successful ever in terms of high-level cards.

The failures have not surprisingly been met with a certain amount of disappointment from prominent fighters everywhere, and newly crowned welterweight champion Robbie Lawler is no different. “Ruthless” told MMA Fighting that he was disappointed that Jones and Silva put a black eye on the sport he loves:

“People make mistakes, but it was definitely a black eye for the sport. Hopefully the commission, the UFC and all the fighters can help clean up the sport.

I’m bummed about it,” Lawler said. “It’s not good for the sport. Just hopefully people realize that not everyone is the same. Not everyone is doing those things.”

While it may be true that everyone in MMA is not using PEDs, recent estimates do have the percentages at an overwhelmingly high number.

The UFC was headed towards a big step in curbing the sport’s drug problem when they began implementing random drug testing for all athletes, but they decided to scrap the plans after botching a self-regulated test failure by Cung Le at last August’s UFC Fight Night 48, a result that was eventually overturned following an appeal.

Still, Lawler believes that the UFC and state athletic commissions need to step up their game and enact stricter testing for the benefit of everyone involved:

“It would be huge for the sport. Let’s figure it out and clean it up.”

It’s plainly apparent that Lawler is on to something, but the details of this whole situation just aren’t that cut-and-dry.

With fighters being suspended left and right for failed tests, is there anything the UFC can do to clean up a sport that is already regarded as one of the seedier athletic competitions in the world?

Photo Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports