10 UFC Rules That Fighters And Fans Get Wrong All The Time

3. Banned Substances

A particularly hot topic right now in MMA is the whole banned substances controversy. The said controversy has involved many legends of the sport as of late including Chael Sonnen, Wanderlei Silva, and Vitor Belfort to name a few. One of the issues is what is supposedly legal and what is not in MMA. The list is honestly very basic with any illegal drug, narcotic, stimulant, depressant, analgesic of any kind, or any kind of alcoholic substance is not allowed. Any positive drug test of any kind of these substances results in usually a fine and suspension of said fighter, along with changing a win to a no contest. While it is clear that some substances such as hCG (not even naturally present in human male bodies) and human growth hormone should be on the list, many fighters and reporters are questioning the presence of marijuana on the list. Several reasons that have been posed are the presence of marijuana in the human body up to two weeks after it has been used in some way. Retired fighter Nate Quarry has been one such critic stating that the Diaz brothers, who have medical marijuana cards in California should not be penalized. While the validity of such statements is up for debate, the fact of the matter is that a fighter should not be using a banned substance while training for a fight, period. That being said it doesn't matter if a fighter used marijuana two days before a fight or two weeks before a fight, they agreed not to use it and if they do, they get penalized.