Cage Rage Drug Testing Policy Claims First Victim
Posted by Iain Liddle on March 13th, 2008
Cage Rage today announced the name of the first fighter to have fallen foul of their recently introduced drug testing policy.
John Phillips (6-1-0 1NC) tested positive for what was only identified as a banned substance and the result of his recent fight against Jake Bostwick (3-4-0 1NC) has been officially changed to a no contest.
In a statement on their website, Cage Rage said “John Phillips, from Team Trojan tested positive for one of the drugs on the current banned list. Although the drug is not recognized as a performance enhancing drug, it is nevertheless on the list.”
Phillips had originally stopped Bostwick at four minutes, ten seconds of the first round via referee stoppage in the opening bout of this past Saturday’s Cage Rage 25 event at Wembley Arena.
Interestingly, and in somewhat paranoid fashion, the statement opens by saying “The question has often been raised as to the validity of drug testing, and whether efforts behind the ongoing attempts to regulate and monitor the use of banned substances really work.”
There is no doubt that the London-based companies attempt to remove drug cheats from British MMA is an admirable move both in terms ensuring a level playing field for their athletes and also giving the sport credibility in the United Kingdom.
In the absence of a commission to regulate mixed martial arts in Britain though, as soon as you announce one failed test it will inevitably lead to people asking questions about the samples that we are not told the results of. Whilst there are no suggestions of any cover up in this instance cynics will claim that if you were looking for an example to prove your system works then a young fighter competing on his first main show would make for the perfect fall guy.
The next stage in the evolution of this policy must surely be to hire an independent testing company to not only choose their own randomly selected fighters to test but also to reveal their findings in full, even if it is only to confirm a clean bill of health.
“Phillips’ fight purse has been withheld” the statement went on to say “and a ban will be in place, prohibiting him from competing in any UK MMA event for a period of 120 days.” Once again, without a commission to oversee the sport it is hard to see how this ban can be legally enforced should the fighter decide to take a bout elsewhere in the country during this period.
Official regulation cannot come soon enough.