Floyd Mayweather's insistence that Manny Pacquiao complete rigorous drug screenings before the two engage in an inevitable megafight next year may be nothing more than mind games. Floyd is looking for an edge and will do anything to throw Manny off of his game. But it raises an interesting issue and it may be a tactic MMA fighters will borrow in the future.
There is no question that steroids and other performance enhancers are a huge part of the MMA lifestyle. Fighters, including UFC champions, have been caught doping numerous times and anecdotal evidence from California suggests that MMA fighters are using at a much higher rate than boxers or kickboxers. As Mayweather clearly understands, the current system in place and governed by state athletic commissions is inadequate to confront this problem. A single urinalysis, the day of or before the fight, is easily beaten by the savvy drug user. The only solution is regular and rigorous blood testing, the kind states seem unwilling or unable to perform.
It seemed, for a time, like Nevada under Keith Kizer was going to take a real leap forward in confronting cheaters. They proposed regular and random out of competition testing. Unfortunately, these tests haven't come to fruition. Fighters are still able to cycle off of drugs just before the fight, with some drugs even just a week before the fight, and have an advantage over their clean opponents.
As usual, Mayweather is ahead of the game. If you want to fight on an even playing field, you can't count on the state to make that happen for you. It requires public pressure and a demand that your opponent (and yourself, of course) complete regular tests to prove you are drug free. An MMA fighter who was taking on a massively muscular opponent, one with legendary stamina and training methods, one who seemed to recover from injuries at an unusual rate, would be smart to demand that fighter provide regular blood samples for testing.
Everyone says they want a clean sport, but one thing is obvious-the only way to clean up the sport is for fighters to do it themselves. Promoters and state governments, with so much money riding on these cards, aren't going to do it. Demand testing. Demand your opponents be clean. Fight on an even playing field. Find out who is the better fighter, not who has the better pharmacist.
