Another sport that has described steroids as an epidemic is Mixed Martial Arts or MMA. Steroids in this sport have such a significant impact because of how steroids affect the body. These drugs make an athlete bigger and stronger and in a sport where they athletes job is to fight someone, it can give a massive unfair advantage to one person allowing them to seriously hurt someone. Steroids have been an issue in this sport for a long time and within the last few years in the world’s biggest MMA promotion, the UFC or Ultimate Fighting Championship, has seen a lot of fighters testing positive for steroids. In 2015, the UFC joined with United States Anti-Doping Agency in attempts to help clean up the sport. “The United States Anti-Doping Agency® (USADA) is recognized by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as the official, independent anti-doping agency for the UFC. USADA began operations on October 1, 2000 and is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental agency whose sole mission is to preserve the integrity of competition, inspire true sport, and protect the rights of athletes. The UFC took the important step to externalize their anti-doping program to USADA, and …show more content…
In fact, the anabolic steroids that the athletes take is illegal without a prescription. With these drugs being prohibited and illegal, there are punishments put in place to try and stop athletes from using them, but it does not always work. Punishment also vary from sport to sport. In baseball, an athlete could just get a fine and then be suspended for a few games and this is the case for other sports as well. In MMA however, the first offense can range from a one-year suspension to a two-year suspension. For example, in an article from Shaun Al-Shatti from MMA Fighting, UFC fighter Brock Lesnar was suspended for one year and fined $250,000 after he tested positive for a drug that was used to hide the fact that he took steroids