Daniel Cormier has just passed his 50th USADA drug test

Former UFC Light-Heavyweight and Heavyweight champion Daniel “DC” Cormier is proud to be a clean athlete after passing his 50th USADA drug test.

Cormier has was recently honored by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) after passing his 50th drug test. Not long ago it was Holly Holm who became the first UFC athlete to successfully pass 50 drug tests. However, UFC VP of Athlete Health and Performance Jeff Novitzky has come out and said that, Cormier was in fact the first athlete to hit the 50 clean drug test mark and has now reached the 54 test mark. Novitzky recognized Cormier’s commitment to being a “clean” athlete and competing fairly.

“The level of care that needs to be exercised in ensuring not just that you wake up and say ‘I’m not going to do steroids or EPO,’ but everything literally that you ingest, that you rub on your skin, you have to make sure is going to adhere to this program,” Novitsky said (from Cage-Side Press).

“In addition to that, this specific program, which DC has undergone 54 times in the last five years, in order to find DC those 54 times he’s had to accurately update his whereabouts — where he’s going to be.”

“That’s no small task either. If you look at other professional sports, normally their drug tests are done immediately after a game. There’s a note on their locker saying ‘hey come see the drug tester.’ Or right after a practice. In this instance, DC has likely been woken up early in the morning dozens of times, been kept up late at night, had his practice interrupted. So there is something, in my opinion, to be said and recognized for what DC has done and achieved.”

Daniel Cormier couldn’t contain his smile, as he was awarded an accolade for his accomplishment. The former champion commented on his achievement:

“I’ve done a lot of things in my career, and honestly this is one of the more proud things that I’ve accomplished,” Cormier said.

“To be able to compete at a high level for a long time, and to receive this, 85 tests [including his tests prior to the UFC], all clean tests— to do it the right way means a ton to me,” Cormier said. “Being a guy that wants to encourage youth sports and youth athletics, you have to do things the right way. Otherwise, your message goes above kids’ heads.

“There have been times that I’ve lashed out at USADA,” Cormier revealed. “And all these other things. But they’re doing a great job. They’re doing as great a job as any testing program could do for a sport that’s constantly evolving. And the testing is evolving with the sport.

“The UFC is better today because of USADA,” Cormier stated.

This article first appeared on CLOSEDGUARDMEDIA.com on 7th March, 2020.