The New England Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams by a score of 13-3 to win Superbowl 53 and UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley was in attendance at the event.
Tyron claims that a USADA staff member came to test Woodley while he was in Atlanta for the Superbowl, but that test wound up costing the fighter $10,000 due to some missed appearances.
“They tested me Super Bowl weekend,” Woodley said at the UFC 235 media lunch (via MMA Fighting). “The lady came to me, bless her soul, because I said a few unchoice words to her. But with respect. She came to test me at 12 a.m. on Super Bowl weekend. Knowing the reason I was in Atlanta was probably for Super Bowl. And I had some appearances that I was supposed to be at. I had an event with [NFL player] Devonte Freeman and Meek Mill I was supposed to be at, an event with Ludacris and an event with Snoop Dogg. And I was in the hotel waiting on her to come in 45 minutes of traffic to test me. So, she tested me around 1 a.m. And I missed those events. So I asked her, I said, ‘Why can’t you test me in the morning? I’m gonna be here.’ [She said,] ‘Oh let me call them and ask them if I can test you in the morning.’ They said, ’No, I gotta test you now.’”
USADA is allowed to show up anywhere a fighter is at to issue a mandatory drug test, while fighters also have to notify USADA of there whereabouts via an app on their phone.
Woodley also wonders why USADA wouldn’t just test him earlier in the day, instead of costing the fighter some money.
“Why in the hell didn’t you test me earlier today?” Woodley said. “‘Oh I had an event I had to go to.’ I have an event I have to go to that I’m missing money because I’m supposed to be there. She said, ‘Oh, I can meet you there.’ I said, ‘No, you can’t get in, you can’t get on the list.’ So I had to wait there and she had to test me at 1 a.m. And I was not happy.”
UFC 235 takes place on Saturday, March 2 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Jon Jones and Anthony Smith headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
