Amid Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg’s Back and Forth, Dana White and Mike Tyson Ponder Over Steroid Testing of Billionaire CEOs

The proposed MMA fight between tech giants Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk isn’t news. Yet, interesting developments have kept fans and media alike on their toes. In one such latest development, UFC boss Dana White revealed that he was in talks with both camps to make the fight happen. Amid this, Mike Tyson makes an interesting inquiry into whether billionaires get to swerve the drug testing protocol.

The legendary fight promoter and the brains behind the revival of the UFC are hyped for the fight. He predicted that the super fight would do a billion dollars in revenue and called it the “biggest fight ever in the history of the world.” On his latest appearance on Mike Tyson‘s Hotboxing podcast, White revealed some interesting but surprising facts about the fight.

Dana White shoots a straight answer

Dana White told Tyson he had talked to Italy’s Minister of Culture and hinted the fight might take place in the Colosseum in Rome. The former heavyweight champion showed his enthusiasm for the fight and asked White whether Musk would use performance-enhancing drugs for the fight.

“Yeah, I want to see that one, I want to see that. Now, is Elon going to use steroids or something?” he asked White.

Now, the UFC has a strict policy when it comes to drug testing. Regardless of their status, all fighters are subject to the same rules and are tested multiple times per year for various banned substances in and out of competition. By that extension, the 54-year-old dismissed the idea and revealed that both fighters would be tested for any illegal substances ahead of their fight.

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“No steroids. No steroids allowed, those guys would be drug tested,” he told Tyson.

The words of White don’t come as a surprise, as UFC has a strict drug testing policy in place.

A 22-page-long Anti-Doping Policy makes it all a fair game

The UFC and the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) joined hands in 2015 to take care of all aspects of drug testing of the fighters. This was a landmark collaboration as this was the first time that the world’s leading anti-doping agency was being engaged in testing MMA fighters. They even punish any fighter found to be in violation of their rules. A minimum of 2750 tests are performed by USADA every year, which comes to around five tests per fighter in a year.

Along with USADA, UFC fighters might also get tested by other anti-doping bodies that are not governed by the UFC anti-doping policy. Fighters need to make themselves available in the USADA testing pool for at least six months before a fight. Anti-doping policy violation include

• Presence of a prohibited substance or its metabolites or markers in an athlete’s sample
• Use or attempted use by an athlete of a prohibited substance or a prohibited method
• Evading, refusing or failing to submit to sample collection
• Whereabouts failures
• Tampering or attempted tampering with any part of doping control
• Possession of a prohibited substance or a prohibited method
• Trafficking or attempted trafficking in any prohibited substance or prohibited method
• Administration or attempted administration to any athlete, in- and out-of-competition of any prohibited substance or prohibited method
• Complicity or attempted complicity by an athlete or other person
• Prohibited association

What are your thoughts about the proposed fight? Is it going to happen, and should the fighters be allowed to use performance-enhancing substances? Let us know in the comments below.

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