Former Bellator Middleweight Champion Gegard Mousasi accused newly crowned Bellator Middleweight Champion Rafael Lovato Jr. of using PEDs during their bout at Bellator London.
Bellator MMA President Scott Coker believes that Lovato Jr. is clean and he has the test results to prove it.
“The guy’s been tested three or four times in the last 18 months, and he’s always come out clean,” Coker told MMA Junkie. “His test results yesterday were clean. We go by the testing of the commission or (Mike) Mazzulli, and that’s it. But for him to say he (texted) me and I ignored him, that’s inaccurate.”
Both Mousasi and Lovato Jr. were tested on fight day, with both of those tests coming back clean.
Coker says that the way Bellator MMA handles drug testing may be better than the UFC’s, especially since there are no conflicts of interests in the Bellator tests.
“Even though (Mazzulli) comes in and does testing for us, if somebody got busted – and I don’t know how many there are – he’s regulated them and said, ‘This is your penalty,'” Coker said. “But we don’t make the penalty call. That’s done by the commission, because the way the UFC does it, you’re judge, jury and executioner, and I don’t think that works, because it’s a conflict of interest at that point. Until there’s a federal body that comes in and regulates the sport, and does all the testing independently – truly independently – I think this is the right way to go.”
Lovato Jr. has competed a total of six times under the Bellator MMA banner and has yet to fail a drug test in-line with those bouts.
