After an impressive submission win over James Te Huna at last weekend’s UFC Fight Night Auckland from New Zealand, Nate Marquardt (33-13-2) is pushing hard for stricter drug testing for professional MMA fighters. In an exclusive interview with Adam Ireland of MMA Kanvas, “The Great” said he supports the recent banning of Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) from MMA competition.
“I think it’s great because it’s just got to be fair, and that’s probably the best way to do it, because guys are going to bend the rules… I think now what really needs to be focused on is the testing,” he said.
Despite some progress, Marquardt says that drug testing still needs to get stricter.
“Even at the fights, there’s things that (can) slip in, like when I took my urine test (post fight), the guy was in the room with me but he didn’t make me take my pants off. I’ve talked to guys from the Olympic training centre and when they take a urine test, you have to take your pants all the way off and that ensures that you’re not hiding anything and the guy has to watch you (take the test),” he said.
“And not only that… they follow you around and make sure you aren’t doing anything, like putting something in your bladder or whatever, and then, like I said, they make you drop your drawers all the way down – that’s not being done yet (in MMA),” he continued.
Head over to MMA Kanvas to see video of the full interview.
