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The topic of PED usage in the MMA community got more than its deserved share of press coverage this past year. Multiple positive test results coupled with suspension, and release announcements became what almost seemed like a monthly occurrence. Now, with the recent announcements of athletes like Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Santos and ‘King’ Mo Lawal testing positive for alleged steroid usage, it appears as though ZUFFA, the parent company that owns the UFC and Strikeforce assets are getting tougher on how the athletes will be screened when competing under contract for either organization.

Today it was announced that the UFC will now institute a pre-contract screening for performance enhancing drugs, to all potential UFC and Strikeforce signees, dating back to Jan 1, 2012. All current fighters under contract will continue to be screened, both prior to competition, and at random as well.

“We’re committed to the health and safety of our athletes and we take it very seriously,” We already work closely with athletic commissions to protect our athletes and now we’re taking it one step further. We’re going to test any potential UFC or STRIKEFORCE fighter before finalizing their contract. This shows that we don’t want performance-enhancing drugs in our sport,” said UFC Chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta.

The implementation of this policy is a prime example of the overall growth and maturity of MMA and along with last year’s decision by ZUFFA to provide medical coverage for all of its contracted athletes is a major step forward for the sport. This new policy though, shows that the company cares even further for their fighters.

“The health and safety of our athletes is our top priority, we’ve seen the issues performance-enhancing drugs have caused in other sports and we’re going to do everything we can to keep them out of the UFC and Strikeforce. Our athletes are already held to the highest testing standards in all sports by athletic commissions. Our new testing policy for performance-enhancing drugs only further shows how important it is to us to have our athletes competing on a level playing field,” said UFC President Dana White.