@article{ref1,
title="Doping in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC): a 4-year epidemiological  analysis",
journal="Drug testing and analysis",
year="2020",
author="Fares, Mohamad Y. and Baydoun, Hasan and Salhab, Hamza A. and Khachfe, Hussein H. and Fares, Jawad and Fares, Youssef and Abboud, Joseph A.",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Doping is a practice that is present in many sports and organizations,  including mixed martial arts and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The aim  of this study is to explore the epidemiological patterns of doping among UFC  athletes. <br><br>METHODS: We screened the official United-States-Anti-Doping-Agency®  (USADA) website, the annual USADA reports and the official UFC website for  information on fighters and anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs). Our dataset  included gender, age, weight class, testing numbers, date of ADRV, type of ADRV and  duration of suspension. Appropriate statistical tests were conducted to assess for  statistical significance. <br><br>RESULTS: USADA tested 1070 UFC athletes 2,624 times as of  late 2015 up till the end of 2019 (N=1070). A total of 209 adverse findings were  recorded; out of which, 102 ADRVs were committed by 93 athletes (8.7%) from all  weight divisions. This constituted an adverse finding rate of 16.55 per 1000 test  and an ADRV rate of 8.08 per1000 test. Mean age of sanctioned athletes was 32 years. Use of anabolic steroids was signficantly the most common ADRV recorded (p=0.018). The men's heavyweight division had an ADRV rate of 19.3 per 1000 tests,  significantly higher than that of women's bantamweight (p=0.03), women's  featherweight (p=0.009), and men's flyweight divisions (p=0.035). ADRV rate showed a  significantly increasing trend among men's weight divisions (p<0.001). <br><br>CONCLUSION:  Doping is present in the UFC. Increasing testing numbers, raising awarenes and  education on the risks of doping, and conducting further research on the topic is  key to help resolve this problem.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1942-7603",
doi="10.1002/dta.2987",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/dta.2987"
}