TJ Dillashaw: USADA Victim

[Chunk]

https://twitter.com/bokamotoESPN/status/1115736603002122240

Edit. Not sure why that won't embed. It's Brett Okamoto saying this:

"Another note in Dillashaw's EPO case, USADA went back and re-analyzed a test submitted on Dec. 28, and that also come back positive for EPO. The reason it went undetected initially, is that a special test is required to reveal EPO, and that test is not run on"

[OzExile]

USADA. Fuck me. You couldn't make this stuff up. Fucking criminal that we are where we are. 

[David]

11 hours ago, Egg Shen said:

nope.

Now Ebb, you didn't quote the other part of my post where I said...

On 3/21/2019 at 10:34 AM, David said:

Now, if Dillashaw is shown to have something in his system that doesn't come from a tainted supplement, and it turns out he has been skulking around Alpha Fail showing every fighter there his stash of Gold's Gym-esque drugs then fair enough, he deserves what he gets.

This level of PED abuse is rarely seen in combat sports today, simply because there's next to no chance you get away with it.

He's obviously believed that he needed something like this to make the cut down for his fight with Lego dome, and strangely believed the risk was worth it. Erythropoietin is known to have an effect on the metabolism and even in low doses it has been known to reduce body weight gain and fat mass.

Almost as dumb as a fighter believing they can get away with this kind of thing in this day & age is the fighters who then scream about how they "must have been on something" when said fighter leathered them a few times in the past.

Unless the fights being talked about took place pre-USADA testing then no, they weren't on the same thing previously. If they were, they'd have turned up a positive sample then as well.

Ironically, the one time he gets popped is the time he gets cracked and put away early doors.

EDIT: Didn't read the last page there, but I'm astounded. Why are USADA turning up positive tests for miniscule levels of stuff found in over the counter products yet not testing for one of the more prominent PED's known to sports?

So, you can get popped for having negligible levels of fuck all in your system, yet EPO is fine? Christ alive.

[jimufctna24]

This incident has potentially highlighted a flaw in USADA's testing procedure. With more money being spent on the USADA programme than ever before, I expect that every single sample collected from fighters in the UFC will now be screened for EPO. Dillashaw is a big enough name to draw attention to this issue. So some good will hopefully come from this. 

Dillashaw's nutritionist/strength and conditioning coach has attributed the positive test to the "relentless pressured to win". 

 

 

[David]

7 minutes ago, jimufctna24 said:

This incident has potentially highlighted a flaw in USADA's testing procedure.

This isn't a flaw, Jim. This is negligence. EPO should be one of the standard tests run on every athlete today, not something that is occasionally flagged. 

[Egg Shen]

Yeh, not sure why EPO isnt always tested, sounds like its randomly added after so many tests are done. Sure we'll find out soon enough from Novitsky or whoever.

 

[Bus Surfer]

Do they keep test samples over an extended period? And is there anyway they would look at retesting his previous samples for EPO?

 

The winds of shit are coming. 

[Carbomb]

I did a bit of reading on EPO, and found this article: https://www.medicinenet.com/blood_doping/views.htm

The bit below is interesting, and could explain why they don't test for EPO as a matter of course:

Quote

Blood doping and EPO use are illegal acts...cheating. But if money is no object, the same end result can be achieved quite legally. Runners who train at altitude, about 6,000 feet above sea level, can see an increase in their erythropoietin level. This is the body adapting to low oxygen concentrations. But intense training at altitude is difficult and performance increases, but not to a great extent. However, if an athlete could sleep at altitude and train at sea level, the effect on performance could be much more dramatic. Thus came the development of hypoxic tents (hypo=low + oxic= oxygen), in which an athlete could sleep and lounge for hours on end and then step outside and train at sea level. Erythropoietin increases in the body as do red blood cell counts and oxygen-carrying capacity. It's a perfectly legal strategy and accepted by WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency, because of its safety record.

 

[Egg Shen]

 

[Carbomb]

No wonder he's a man of few words; that statement's a bit obnoxious - it's either making excuses for him, or it's raising completely irrelevant points. "You plebs couldn't possibly understand what's going on" and "Oh, our boy done bad, but it's all you, the world that's on trial, you made him do it".

What's to understand? I don't know anything about EPO, but USADA do, they've said it's against the rules, and they've said TJ Dillashaw took them. That's all anyone needs to know.

Winning is kind of the essence of success in sport. Pressure to win is a given. That's why TJ gets paid for fighting, and I just watch fighting.

[David]

Sounds like a pile of self-important, wordy shite to me, personally. And that's coming from someone who's been known to indulge in some wordplay in my time.

It's quite simple from what we've seen and heard, although what we do know is limited of course. Dillashaw accepted a fight at a lower weight, despite concerns from those in the know that he'd struggle to hit the weight. He's jumped at the money and the chance to cement his legacy as a two-weight champion, and he's obviously been armed with the knowledge that USADA don't regularly test for EPO. EPO is known as a PED that can control weight and fat loss, and he's obviously took it to help himself make the weight, along with whatever benefits he'd draw from it.

If it worked, he'd have come in stronger, faster, more replenished and probably bigger than his opponent, and as much as lego napper annoys the fuck out of me I certainly wish him no ill will, and would hate to have seen him hurt as a result of someone cheating.

Dillashaw rolled the dice, and he lost in stupendous fashion. He gambled that he'd win the fight, win a second title, and that EPO wouldn't be tested for. Instead he got stopped early, didn't win the second title, popped for EPO, got banned, and lost his own title.

Personally, for drug cheating as clear cut as this, with a PED as effective as this, I wouldn't be against him being banned for life. This isn't something that he's popped for that could be explained away like 99% of the failures we see. This is one of the rare ones where the fighter has went in with the intention of cheating without doubt, and as such he should be hammered for that.

Even as much as some of us may not like Garbrandt either, you have to feel for him too. If this shit has been at play during their fight he's suffered two heavy stoppage losses, and even if they decided to retest any old samples and overturn any results, the effects of those knockout blows can't be removed. Those kind of shots shorten careers.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah I can’t stand Garbrandt but that was one of the first things I thought. Those 2 knockouts were bad and very well might’ve taken something away, durability-wise, that Cody will never get back. We saw him get stopped again by Pedro Munhoz in his last fight and, although I think Munhoz is underrated and deserves the credit, I can’t help but wonder how much of it was down to the damage TJ inflicted over their 2 fights. 

[JNLister]

The fighter contracts with UFC specifically say you won't take any banned substances. The bout agreements specifically say they are "integrated with and incorporated into" the fighter contracts.

So when you agree to fight someone (and consent to them physically assaulting you), you are specifically agreeing that both parties will not take any banned substances.

So if one guy's on PEDs, the other guy's consent to be physically assaulted is no longer valid. In which case, a fighter on PEDs is surely committing criminal assault/battery/etc?

[wandshogun09]

Brett Johns tweeted this. 

[jimufctna24]

If they do keep test samples over an extended period and have the inclination to test them for EPO, it will take them a lot of time and money. It's possible that TJ was aware of these numbers. And simply decided the risk was worth it (as David noted above).

Edit: I've also read that USADA were very lucky to catch TJ. EPO is meant to quickly pass through your system when microdosed. If you take it late at night, it won't show up after 8am-9am the next day. So either TJ fucked up his dosage in terms of timing and quantity. Or USADA tested him very early in the morning.