The United States Anti-Doping Agency is calling Brock Lesnar's missing drug test from their public website a "technical glitch."
On Dec. 7, MMA Today's Dave Marsdin reported that one of Lesnar's sample tests from the week of Oct. 17 had gone missing from the USADA website. Per company policy, USADA updates all testing data to a public website throughout the year. The database does not include results, but shows how many times a UFC athlete has been tested during the year.
Ive gone through @USADA_UFC 's xml with a fine toothcomb.
— Dave/Dim (@dimspace) December 8, 2018
Only Lesnar's test numbers have dropped between 28/11 and 7/12, no other fighters affected
Sample is from 17/10 reporting period. 2 samples reported that week originally.
1 has vanished or been removed. pic.twitter.com/0IPIabXQMD
@USADA_UFC
— Dave/Dim (@dimspace) December 8, 2018
have now updated the ufc.usada site in line with the regular usada site.
Brock Lesnar confirmed as having his sample count for quarter 4 reduced by one.
Originally 2 samples reported 17th October '18
This is not good. We need to know why?@JeffNovitzkyUFC pic.twitter.com/TJF5I8v9bb
USADA spokesperson Adam Woullard told ESPN that Lesnar's missing test was the result of a "technical issue" with the database. Lesnar was the only fighter affected.
"During an update on the week of October 15th, we experienced a technical issue that resulted in the information on the page being displayed incorrectly," said Woullard. "The correct test history for the athlete is one test [that week], not two. The issue has been fixed and the testing numbers on the website are all accurate. We are still investigating the specific technical issue that led to the error."
Lesnar failed a USADA administered drug test in July 2016 when he tested positive for the banned substance clomiphene prior to his UFC 200 bout against Mark Hunt. He was suspended for one-year following the failed test. In February 2017, Lesnar notified the UFC that he would be retiring from the sport.
He ended his retirement and re-entered the testing pool this past July in hopes to fight UFC Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier in early 2019. He will be eligible to compete on or after Jan. 8, 2019. A bout against Cormier has not been made official at this time.
Jeff Novitzky, UFC Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance, told ESPN, "I have access to a more specific database than the public, which displays the date a sample is collected, what type of sample it is and what the results are as soon as they are available. The public website, as I understand it, indicated there had been two tests during this last quarter, and it recently dropped to one. I have always seen one test in this quarter for Lesnar. It was a urine test and it came back negative."
Lesnar is currently scheduled to appear at the WWE Royal Rumble on Jan. 27, 2019.
