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Veteran former UFC fighter Georges St-Pierre made some interesting observations about the UFC's drug testing program. Elsewhere, Islam Makhachev condemned the Olympic Committee's ban on Russian athletes from the Paris event.
Sportskeeda MMA is back with today's top combat sports updates.
UFC should implement third-party testing to avoid corruption, says Georges St-Pierre
Georges St-Pierre is a huge proponent of fairness in MMA and UFC. In a recent episode of Theo Von's podcast This Past Weekend, he openly spoke about some of his fellow fighters violating drug regulations, although he did not take any names.
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He also spoke on how drug testing would not be entirely corruption-free unless it is done by a third party not influenced by the UFC in any way:
"They're [UFC] not with USADA anymore, but I think they hire another organization to do the tests now. But I do believe that if you want to avoid corruption, it needs to be a separated entity that do the test than the organization itself. If the organization has power in their testing, it's corrupt."
Check out Georges St-Pierre's comments below (38:40):
Islam Makhachev criticizes ban on Russian athletes
Russian athletes were not allowed to represent their nation in the recently concluded 2024 Paris Olympics owing to the war against Ukraine. They could, however, participate as neutrals.
Islam Makhachev, who hails from Dagestan, Russia, expressed discontentment at the situation and sympathized with the athletes, especially the wrestlers. He condemned the "dirty politics" that led to the situation, suggesting that it was unfair for the athletes to be punished for a war they had no role in.
He wrote on his Instagram Story in Russian:
"I enjoyed watching wrestling these days. It's a pity that dirty politics got into such a courageous sport. People who gave their whole lives to this sport and got a chance to compete at the Olympic Games are forced to stay at home and watch the Olympics on TV. The double standards of dirty countries deprive our athletes of what they have been striving for all their lives."
Makhachev had previously criticized the controversial Paris Olympics opening ceremony, along with several other UFC fighters.
Canelo Alvarez breaks silence on losing Undisputed status
Canelo Alvarez became the first and only boxer in history to become the undisputed champion at super middleweight in November 2021 by stopping Caleb Plant for the IBF title. He went on to defend the four-belt status four times against Gennady Golovkin, John Ryder, Jermell Charlo, and Jaime Munguia. However, he was stripped of the IBF belt last month due to not fulfilling his mandatory obligation against No. 1 contender, William Scull.
Alvarez addressed the matter in an interview with Million Dollaz Worth of Game:
"There are levels. There are stars and there are superstars. They make the championship, not the championship makes them. Who is William Scull? I never hear about him. I'm not gonna do whatever they want. I'm gonna do whatever I want. Because I deserve it, because of all I have done."
Alvarez is set to face Edgar Berlanga on Sep. 14 in Las Vegas for the former's undisputed super middleweight championship.
