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Barnett, 40, told MMAjunkie he won’t agree to any settlements offered by the UFC’s anti-doping partner as a resolution to his alleged drug violation in December 2016.
“I end up no matter what at the mercy of USADA,” the veteran UFC heavyweight said. “And to be honest, I don’t trust them in any way, shape or form. I have no interest to work with them or be a part of their program.
“I would be willing to do anything else but work with USADA at this point. When you can’t trust someone, what are you supposed to do? Continue to give them the opportunity to break your trust? They don’t seem responsible enough to have oversight over my career.”
In spite of that, USADA factored into his case a previous positive that upped his potential punishment to four years. Although the anti-doping agency offered him an 18-month suspension as a reduced punishment, he feels mislead and accused USADA of running a program that values punishment above the health and safety of athletes.
“I’m not against the idea and the spirit of USADA, or what an independent drug testing program is for – not at all,” Barnett said. “I don’t have an issue with any of these things, and even though I took a supplement that was tainted, I’m OK with having to go through the process to test the supplements. I’m totally fine with that.
“The only thing I protest to is being hammered after the fact, after finding that I am innocent of any wrongdoing, and instead of moving on and considering the time spent researching and finding the data and appealing my case as enough – the extra efforts to come after me, that’s where I draw the line.”
After the results confirmed a tainted supplement, Barnett said USADA acknowledged he didn’t knowingly ingest ostarine and the positive likely resulted from the tribulus terrestris. That led him to believe he would receive a reduced suspension, or even a warning if he volunteered to educate other fighters about the problem of tainted supplements.
Instead, the same two-year suspension came back. After he and his manager protested, the term was amended to 18 months, retroactive to his temporary suspension date.
“They have a real insistence of trying to mete out punishment,” Barnett said of USADA. “Despite everything we’ve done and the initial process of dealing with them, they at some point turned a corner and became very stringent, hardcore, inflexible, and really, unwilling to continue on the same path they initiated. It seems they want to erect a stake and burn me at it.”
Barnett maintains his positive test from 2009 isn’t relevant to his current case and is a “more complex thing than just on paper.” He could take the matter to arbitration, as UFC athletes are afforded. But he is suspicious that his guilt will be rubber-stamped and said the costs of fighting USADA aren’t worth it.
“I think I’m the first fighter to go full on, indepedent, Olympic-level random testing when I fought Travis Browne (at UFC 168), which I didn’t have any problem doing,” he said. “But USADA hasn’t been nearly as easy to deal with.
“It’s very frustrating, because I understand the intent of the program. But this doesn’t feel like anything having to do with the intent of the program. This feels like something else, and that’s the trouble. I feel like this isn’t anything about fighter safety or sanctity of sport. This is more about using a witch hunt on a personal level. Maybe punishing people, to them, represents effectiveness (rather) than being about athlete safety and finding issue with tainted supplements.”
“I’m not done fighting,” Barnett said. “I’d still like to compete. But I want to train and compete and have a reasonable and understandable process to the whole thing.”
http://mmajunkie.com/2018/01/ufc-jo...year-suspension/amp?__twitter_impression=true
“I end up no matter what at the mercy of USADA,” the veteran UFC heavyweight said. “And to be honest, I don’t trust them in any way, shape or form. I have no interest to work with them or be a part of their program.
“I would be willing to do anything else but work with USADA at this point. When you can’t trust someone, what are you supposed to do? Continue to give them the opportunity to break your trust? They don’t seem responsible enough to have oversight over my career.”
In spite of that, USADA factored into his case a previous positive that upped his potential punishment to four years. Although the anti-doping agency offered him an 18-month suspension as a reduced punishment, he feels mislead and accused USADA of running a program that values punishment above the health and safety of athletes.
“I’m not against the idea and the spirit of USADA, or what an independent drug testing program is for – not at all,” Barnett said. “I don’t have an issue with any of these things, and even though I took a supplement that was tainted, I’m OK with having to go through the process to test the supplements. I’m totally fine with that.
“The only thing I protest to is being hammered after the fact, after finding that I am innocent of any wrongdoing, and instead of moving on and considering the time spent researching and finding the data and appealing my case as enough – the extra efforts to come after me, that’s where I draw the line.”
After the results confirmed a tainted supplement, Barnett said USADA acknowledged he didn’t knowingly ingest ostarine and the positive likely resulted from the tribulus terrestris. That led him to believe he would receive a reduced suspension, or even a warning if he volunteered to educate other fighters about the problem of tainted supplements.
Instead, the same two-year suspension came back. After he and his manager protested, the term was amended to 18 months, retroactive to his temporary suspension date.
“They have a real insistence of trying to mete out punishment,” Barnett said of USADA. “Despite everything we’ve done and the initial process of dealing with them, they at some point turned a corner and became very stringent, hardcore, inflexible, and really, unwilling to continue on the same path they initiated. It seems they want to erect a stake and burn me at it.”
Barnett maintains his positive test from 2009 isn’t relevant to his current case and is a “more complex thing than just on paper.” He could take the matter to arbitration, as UFC athletes are afforded. But he is suspicious that his guilt will be rubber-stamped and said the costs of fighting USADA aren’t worth it.
“I think I’m the first fighter to go full on, indepedent, Olympic-level random testing when I fought Travis Browne (at UFC 168), which I didn’t have any problem doing,” he said. “But USADA hasn’t been nearly as easy to deal with.
“It’s very frustrating, because I understand the intent of the program. But this doesn’t feel like anything having to do with the intent of the program. This feels like something else, and that’s the trouble. I feel like this isn’t anything about fighter safety or sanctity of sport. This is more about using a witch hunt on a personal level. Maybe punishing people, to them, represents effectiveness (rather) than being about athlete safety and finding issue with tainted supplements.”
“I’m not done fighting,” Barnett said. “I’d still like to compete. But I want to train and compete and have a reasonable and understandable process to the whole thing.”
http://mmajunkie.com/2018/01/ufc-jo...year-suspension/amp?__twitter_impression=true
