LAS VEGAS — According to Hunter Campbell, the UFC’s Chief Business Officer, what happened to Nate Diaz this week was the “nightmare scenario” of what could go wrong with the company’s anti-doping policy as pertains to tainted supplements. “I’m going to get a call that Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz, these guys that I know because I know them in and out would never in a million years do this,” Campbell said Friday night. “They are going to find themselves (in this situation), they’re going to be branded a cheater and it will not only impact their career, but their legacy. That is the single worst thing in my opinion that you could do to somebody, and particularly as a fighter in this profession.” Over the course of the past several years, since the company adopted U.S. Anti-Doping Agency-administered testing, it has become increasingly apparent that tainted supplements used by fighters who are not intending to cheat is a real thing, and not simply an excuse made after one gets caught. The UFC has worked for much of this year to amend the policy in a common-sense manner that doesn’t unfairly punish fighters who clearly did not intend to break the rules, while also continuing to catch those who are in fact deliberately running afoul of the program. And right before the policy was set to be formally announced — UFC VP of Athlete Health and Performance Jeff Novtizky said at a California State Athletic Commission meeting in Los Angeles last week that changes would be announced “in a couple weeks” — Diaz got snagged, less than two weeks before his major headlining fight against Jorge Masvidal at UFC 244, the fruition of Campbell’s “nightmare scenario.” Diaz had an atypical reading in an out-of-competition for traces of LGD-4033, or Ligandrol, a selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM) which builds lean muscle mass, in a recent out-of-competition USADA test. Dating back to an agreement in principle with USADA on Aug.
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UFC execs on why Nate Diaz was exonerated: ‘Nate is not a cheater’ – MMA Junkie