About the Program
UFC
The UFC’s Anti-Doping Program (UFC ADP), established in 2015, is widely recognized as one of the top anti-doping programs in sports. Every UFC athlete on the active roster is subject to unannounced testing 365 days a year, at any time of day or night. The UFC maintains an Anti-Doping Compliance Department, which provides 24/7 resources and support to help athletes remain compliant with the program.
The UFC also offers a robust education program, including extensive onboarding sessions for all new athletes and ongoing anti-doping education for all athletes and their support teams. The UFC ADP uses a custom-built whereabouts reporting platform and employs best-in-class anti-doping components for sample collection and laboratory analysis. The program is structured so that no UFC employees make final testing or sanctioning decisions. These responsibilities are delegated to the UFC ADP’s independent administrator, Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD).
Drug-Free Sport International (DFS)
DFSI is the official biological sample collection and shipping provider for the UFC ADP and is considered the global leader in anti-doping sample collection and logistics. In addition to servicing the UFC ADP worldwide, DFSI also provides services for Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Football League (NFL), FIFA, the PGA Tour, the LPGA Tour, the NCAA, NASCAR, and others. DFSI maintains a network of more than 5,000 sample collection personnel across the globe, uniquely positioning them to collect samples from UFC athletes located in over 50 countries.
Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory (SMRTL)
Every UFC athlete sample collected worldwide is shipped to and analyzed by the Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory (SMRTL), a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)–accredited laboratory located in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. SMRTL is widely regarded as one of the top anti-doping laboratories in the world.
Dr. Daniel Eichner, SMRTL’s president and laboratory director, serves as the UFC ADP’s science director. He advises the UFC and its independent administrator on rules, the prohibited list, and the interpretation of sample results. Dr. Eichner is recognized as one of the leading anti-doping scientists globally, and he and SMRTL have collaborated with the UFC on peer-reviewed anti-doping research.
Sending every sample to a single laboratory offers numerous benefits. In addition to screening each sample against the UFC ADP prohibited list, SMRTL maintains a robust biological passport program for all UFC athletes, tracking urine and blood markers over time to identify fluctuations that may indicate prohibited performance-enhancing drug use.
Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD)
Since early 2024, CSAD has served as the independent administrator of the UFC ADP. CSAD is led by its president, George Piro, a senior executive with more than 30 years of distinguished service in federal and local law enforcement, including over 20 years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). During his tenure with the FBI, Mr. Piro held several notable roles, including Special Agent in Charge of the Miami Field Office; Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Office’s Counterterrorism Branch; and Supervisory Special Agent and Team Leader of the Saddam Hussein Interrogation Team in Baghdad, Iraq.
Importantly, Mr. Piro is also a high-level No-Gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Masters World Champion, regularly trains with professional MMA athletes, and is deeply familiar with the sport. Contractually, he holds all final decision-making authority under the UFC ADP, including test distribution planning, therapeutic use exemption (TUE) determinations, and results management for whereabouts failures and adverse findings (sanctions/suspensions). His independent authority is a critical component of the program, ensuring that no internal business or personal interests interfere with maintaining a clean and fair UFC.
Additionally, CSAD operates a tip line for reporting information related to prohibited performance-enhancing drug use within the UFC: tipline@csad.org.
