“Did not work for USADA WTF!!” – Strangers confused as Anti-doping agency fooled UFC featherweight Dan Ige into giving blood
Confusion across the board as featherweight fighter Dan Ige gives a sample to unknown people claiming to be USADA agents.
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Dan Ige gave samples to unknown agents claiming to be from USADA (Image Courtesy - UFC.com/USADA.com)
Dan Ige will compete at UFC 289 in Canada. The featherweight is currently in the final phase of his preparation. Ige will fight rising star Nate Landwehr on the main card of UFC 289. However, before the fight, controversy has grown over his USADA testing. A couple of people claiming to be USADA officials approached Ige for his blood samples. It turned out that those people had no association with the USADA.
Dan Ige took to Twitter to address the issue. He wrote, “So pissed off someone came over this morning I thought it was @usantidoping @USADA_UFC, they took my blood and everything and come to find out these people went to the wrong house address and did not work for usada WTF!!!!!” Ige is not happy about the situation.
This is the first time that people faked their identity as a USADA official to get the blood samples of a UFC fighter. USADA and UFC fighters have beefed over the timing of taking samples. Multiple fighters have complained about the USADA officials coming up early morning to take blood and urine samples. However, no one has imitated a USADA official until the Ige situation. Reports suggest that the officials came to collect samples but had it confused with Ige’s house.
From 2018 to 2020, Ige had an incredible six-fight winning streak in the featherweight division. He had notable wins over Edson Barboza and Mirsad Bektic. However, since 2020, he had a downfall after losing four of his last six bouts. This year, he returned to his winning ways after knocking out Damon Jackson in the second round. He will look to keep the momentum up with a win over Nate Landwehr at UFC 289.
Dan Ige gets a reply from USADA’s Jeff Novitzky
Jeff Novitzky is the face of USADA. He is also the UFC’s Senior VP of Athlete Health and Performance. After the unfortunate incident of Dan Ige with fake USADA agents, Novitzky went on Twitter to address the issue. He warned fighters to ask for credentials before giving their samples.
He wrote, “Understandable that this process can become routine and at 630am you can be in a daze. But a good reminder to UFC athletes that USADA DCO’s carry credentials that they should show you and you should verify before submitting to any sample collection.”
The emerging consensus remains that the people who took the samples from Ige are not fake. They are part of some organization and had the house number confused with Ige’s. Hopefully, nothing wrong will happen to anyone involved in the matter.
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Nidhin Shibu
(2536 Articles Published)