Athletes doping, or using “performance enhancing drugs”, has sadly been in the news for a number of years, ruining many athlete’s careers along the way. Well, the UFC has always had an anti-doping stance, but today stepped it up by naming Jeff Novitsky their new Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance. Novitsky has been on the leading edge as an agent with the FDA since 2008, investigating companies suspected of selling illegal dietary supplements and steroids, and before that was an IRS agent who oversaw some of the highest profile doping cases in sports.
Novitsky will lead the UFC in it’s continued education and prevention programs, using state-of-the-art PED testing.
“There is no bigger advocate of clean professional sports than Jeff Novitzky,” UFC Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Lawrence Epstein said. “When we announced our commitment for an enhanced drug testing program in February, we wanted to ensure that the best people would be helping move this program forward and Jeff will lead the UFC in developing the most comprehensive anti-doping policy in professional sports.”
Novitzky added: “I am thrilled to be joining a world-class organization like UFC, that is committed to taking the necessary steps to ensure all of its athletes are competing in a clean sport. I am confident that UFC will be able to create a new gold standard testing program and implement it so a sustainable and level playing field is provided for all athletes.”
The UFC’s broad athlete health program, including Athlete Accident Insurance Plan since 2011, which will include an expanded drug-testing program that will increase out-of-competition testing, a program that Novitsky will create and implement. This clean initiative education program will ensure that all UFC fighters compete with natural ability on a level playing field.