Derek Brunson airs his frustration with USADA whereabout infraction
Derek Brunson is letting the USADA know that their system is flawed.
Derek Brunson has been a staple in the UFC middleweight division for ten years. He has had his ups and downs throughout those years but most recently he has found his way to the top of the stacked division. Being a part of the UFC as a whole has its pluses and its minuses. Brunson most recently let out a rant on social media about one of the minuses that come with being a UFC fighter, dealing with the U.S Anti-Doping Agency.
In 2015, the USADA took over drug testing UFC athletes. The purpose was to promote a safe and clean sport and in the years since the adoption of the USADA, many fighters have been suspended for failing drug tests. Suspensions can come from failing a test but can also come from failing to properly report their whereabouts.
Fighters must let the USADA know where they will be at all times in order to allow for completely random drug testing. Failing to do so three times can result in a suspension. Apparently, Brunson missed his submission and took to Twitter to sound off on the flawed plan.
. @usantidoping has to be the worst testing program out . Imagine trying to handle business outside of the octagon and having to take quick flights to check on properties , having a family and other stuff going on, etc and them giving you failures because you forgot to update the
— Derek Brunson (@DerekBrunson) May 19, 2022
“@usantidoping has to be the worst testing program out. Imagine trying to handle business outside of the octagon and having to take quick flights to check on properties, having a family and other stuff going on, etc and them giving you failures because you forgot to update the glitchy app. There’s several athletes out here taking peds but no one failing. Get your gps feature back. Giving someone a failed whereabouts isn’t the same as someone failing a ped test,” Brunson wrote.
This led people to believe that he had in fact been suspended but he later followed it up with more of an explanation.
“Just to be clear. Usada gave me a whereabouts infraction because I didn’t update my location. Stating I have 2 whereabout infractions and 1 more could result in a 2 year suspension,” he wrote. “They use to have gps tracking, maybe get back the system that worked for fighters!”
Brunson is coming off a loss to Jared Cannonier back in February. At the time of that fight, Brunson’s plan was to beat Cannonier, then beat Adesanya, and then retire. With the loss to Cannonier, who is now fighting for the belt next, Brunson will need to string together a few more fights before getting that title shot.
