Ben Henderson: I’m all for increased drug testing in the UFC

UFC Lightweight champion Ben Henderson has been busy in the news as of late, recently expressing his desire to face Georges St-Pierre at Welterweight. While that fight was quickly shot down by Dana White, Henderson has also been a staunch critic of TRT and PEDs, a hot topic in today’s MMA.

Henderson has made it known that he believes the need to take such drugs makes a fighter mentally weak, and that he can break them. He views TRT and steroids as a quick fix to get a leg up on the competition, but that’s something he wholly believes he’ll never need. He‘s all for increased testing , and spoke up to MMA Fighting on the subject:

“I’d be for increased testing. It keeps the playing field even. It makes it so guys have to do a better job of either hiding it, or just not taking it. I think a lot of guys would actually just do a better job of hiding. Like guys in the NFL, some get busted, but the guys who get busted are just the, not very intelligent ones, because it’s not the hardest thing just to time it correctly to where you don’t get caught whenever you get tested.

“That being said, I’d be for more rigorous testing. They want the blood doping testing? We can do that, too. I’m cool with that. Random testing? I’d be for that.

I’m all for any testing. Random, blood testing; whatever you want to do, let’s do it, because for me, I never even considered it.” 

So Henderson’s not concerned with increased testing, and thinks it may be good for the sport. With estimates of steroid use in MMA at an all-time high, it may be a good idea. But it may also lead to the cancellation of several huge fights. The debate rages on about PEDs in MMA.  Is random drug testing the next step the UFC should take in preventing drug use among fighters?