Why is a failed drug test an NC, not a DQ?

Captain Herb

Captain Herb

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Always wondered this. In any other sport that is drug tested with any sort of seriousness, like Olympic sports or cycling, if you fail a drug test pre or post competition, you are disqualified, your win is taken away and someone else is awarded the win. This can even happen years later if they re-test a sample with new technology. But in the UFC, if one fighter fails their test, the other does not win via DQ, instead it's considered an NC, a no-contest as if the fight never happened. Except the fight did happen and one of the fighters cheated in one of the worst ways you can possibly cheat. In any other sport that is a disqualification but in the UFC they just pretend nothing happened. Thoughts?
 
When they took away Armstrong's Tour titles, no one was awarded the titles, no one was moved up in standings.

Of course, that was because everyone else who stood on the podium those years got popped at one time or another, so maybe that's not a great example.

I think the potential for someone fighting like crap, getting thrashed in the cage, and then getting a "W" if a Diaz brother smoked some weed that week or if it actually is an accidentally tainted supplement, or something that isn't legal, but isn't really a PED doesn't seem right. Instead of having it be too subjective, they figured "NC" was probably the easiest way to be fair for all of the endless list of potential possibilities.
 
The Olympics is a tournament style setup so it makes sense to promote the next in line. In the UFC it would just affect the arbitrary ranking so who knows if 6 months from now someone tests positive for a fight on the previous card how it could have changed potential future matchups. Its not as linear as the Olympics.

Imagine if the loser suddenly gets a win from a DQ a couple months later and then gets a title fight from a fight they originally lost. That's wildly different than a NC and it not impacting the standing.
 
Captain Herb said:
Always wondered this. In any other sport that is drug tested with any sort of seriousness, like Olympic sports or cycling, if you fail a drug test pre or post competition, you are disqualified, your win is taken away and someone else is awarded the win. This can even happen years later if they re-test a sample with new technology. But in the UFC, if one fighter fails their test, the other does not win via DQ, instead it's considered an NC, a no-contest as if the fight never happened. Except the fight did happen and one of the fighters cheated in one of the worst ways you can possibly cheat. In any other sport that is a disqualification but in the UFC they just pretend nothing happened. Thoughts?
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Maybe NC just stands for Not Clean.

Also Jon Jones would be a .500 fighter it becomes DQ, and we can't have that for the UFC GOAT
 
GrantB13 said:
The Olympics is a tournament style setup so it makes sense to promote the next in line. In the UFC it would just affect the arbitrary ranking so who knows if 6 months from now someone tests positive for a fight on the previous card how it could have changed potential future matchups. Its not as linear as the Olympics.

Imagine if the loser suddenly gets a win from a DQ a couple months later and then gets a title fight from a fight they originally lost. That's wildly different than a NC and it not impacting the standing.
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I don't know, I mean they have rules for a reason right? Everyone knows the rules so if you get caught it's not really a surprise. The pre and post fight tests come out within a week or so after the fight so I don't see it really affecting any matchmaking. Brock beat Hunt half to death but he was radioactively positive for steroids. I would have no problem giving Hunt the win because of that.
 
Better yet, the other guy should be allowed to do PEDs then they should fight anyways
 
Because the fight was not conducted under agreed-upon rules, even though it still happened. For example, if someone misses weight, they can just cancel the match. They don't treat it as a DQ win for the other fighter. But when you find out AFTER the fact that the rules weren't followed, it's too late to call off the match. The best thing you can do is treat it as though it never happened, which is exactly what a No Contest result means.

Perhaps that's not how it works in the Olympics. But in the UFC, a DQ only happens for fouls inside the cage, not outside of it.
 
HHJ said:
There's rules.


It's a sport.

But these people beat the shit out each other for money. Things are gonna be different.
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I get that you want it to be different but I'm not sure why it should be different and that's even beside the point, if there are rules they should go ahead and use them. If a fighter can't continue because of an illegal blow during the fight, they are awarded the win. That's basically the same as a losing fighter getting the win because his opponent was on steroids. imo.
 
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