USADA Has Tested Brock Lesnar Five Times In Two Weeks

There has been a ton of confusion surrounding Brock Lesnar / USADA situation. Some believe that he received an exemption from all drug testing when he agreed to fight Mark Hunt at UFC 200, but that’s not the case.

According to MMA Fighting, the former UFC Heavyweight Champion and current WWE superstar has been tested five times over the last two weeks. So, it’s clear that the USADA isn’t messing around with Lesnar leading up to his fight on July 9.

Jeff Novitzky, who is the UFC’s vice president of health and performance, told MMA Fighting that Lesnar will be tested several more times leading up to UFC 200.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, if somebody looks like they’re taking some type of performance-enhancing drugs, the USADA will test them significantly more than someone who looks like they’re completely clean.

“[USADA] said, and nobody else will say it this way, if somebody looks suspicious, or if somebody is really good and dominant, they’re tested like crazy. They’ve tested [Cris] Cyborg like crazy, they tested Ronda Rousey like crazy, and I’m guessing that they’ve tested the guys with previous failures like crazy as well.”

Brock Lesnar has never failed a drug test, but he has been accused of taking performance-enhancing drugs because of his freakish physique and his incredible athleticism. So, because of that, USADA isn’t going light on Lesnar, and, as Novitzky said, he’ll probably be tested a five more times leading up to his fight on July 9.

Typically when an ex-fighter is coming out of retirement, he has to give the UFC and USADA four months notice so they can get him into the testing cycle well-ahead of his or her return. But, due to the short-notice nature of Lesnar being added to UFC 200, he wasn’t able to give the UFC or USADA a four-month heads up. As a result, USADA granted Lesnar an exemption which would allow him to fight at UFC 200.

When news broke that USADA was giving Lesnar an exemption, there was a ton of confusion as to what that really meant. Some people, including Lesnar’s opponent Mark Hunt, were angry about the exemption because they believed that he would be exempt from all testing. But that’s obviously not the case.

Lesnar, who is 38, will be making his return to the Octagon after a four-and-a-half-year hiatus. He was forced to retire back in December of 2011 after a first-round TKO loss to Alistair Overeem. He’s cited his illness — Diverticulitis — as the reason for his poor performance against Overeem, and against Cain Velasquez. But he believes that he’s finally 100 percent healthy, and that he can, once again, compete at the highest level in the UFC’s heavyweight division.

Mark Hunt is a dangerous opponent for Lesnar. He’s a guy with one-punch knockout power, and typically, that’s the kind of opponent that Lesnar has the most trouble with. Hunt has won his last two fights via knockout in the very first round, so he’s coming into UFC 200 on a roll.

Rumor has it that WWE chairman Vince McMahon allowed Lesnar to fight Hunt because of the “Super Samoan’s” win / loss record, which stands at 12-10-1. Also, Hunt isn’t quite the physical specimen that Lesnar is, which is another reason why McMahon allowed this fight to happen. Of course, McMahon’s MMA knowledge isn’t the top-notch, so he probably has no idea what Hunt is capable of inside the Octagon.

If Lesnar does come out on top at UFC 200, there’s a chance that he could become the number one contender for the UFC Heavyweight Championship. So, if all goes well for Lesnar, he could end up as the first man to hold both the UFC and WWE Heavyweight Championships simultaneously.

[Photo by Eric Jamison / AP Images]