As executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, Keith Kizer plays a
powerful role in the regulation of mixed martial arts.
Kizer recently
joined the Sherdog Radio
Network’s “Rewind” show to discuss a variety of topics with host Jack
Encarnacao, including Alistair Overeem,
out-of-competition testing and more.
On why the commission tests for
steroids: “I think with steroids more than anything else -- though this
doesn’t necessarily not apply to other performance-enhancing drugs and/or
prohibited substances that aren’t necessarily performance enhancing -- [it] is
the risk to the person taking them. This is a situation where if steroids did
not have these side effects that they have, then fighters could choose to take
it or not. But you don’t want to put a fighter in a situation where he has to
take something that is that risky to himself in order to have a level playing
field. In other words, if his opponent is taking this performance-enhancing
drug, he has to take it; and if he doesn’t, he’s going to be at an unfair
advantage, but if he does, he’s going to have a health risk.
“Now on the
flip side, though, if Fighter A has a healthy diet and Fighter B eats a bunch of
junk food, there’s going to be an uneven playing field there, but the answer
there is for the fighter with the unhealthy diet to eat better. There’s no
drawback to that. It’s all positive. That’s the main thing, and I think that’s
probably true on anything on the prohibited substance list, be it a
performance-enhancing drug or not, is the concern for the health of the fighter
or the athlete taking it, and you don’t want to put him or her that
position.”
On urine tests compared to blood tests: “The testing
we’re basically doing fight night, especially with the steroids, is the urine
test. … Urine is the preferred method of testing for steroids. It stays in your
system a lot longer, a lot longer. But there are certain things -- if we’re
looking for someone’s total testosterone, we’ll test them for blood, and we’ve
done that. …
“I can tell you the urine testing is what we do as a matter
of course. Again, we’re not just looking for testosterone. You don’t want to
just test somebody for testosterone. You want to test them for steroids, masking
agents, diuretics. You need urine for that. That kind of gives you the whole
ball of wax. That helps a lot. But if there was a need to test for total
testosterone, we can do that as well. But as a matter of course, that’s
something that [goes] beyond a matter of course, having guys give blood. I
personally don’t think it’s necessarily a good idea to jab a needle in a guy’s
arm just before he gets in the ring.”
On concerns with blood tests on
fight night: “The first thing might be the fact that the risk to the athlete
is greater by jabbing a needle into his arm. We actually had this discussion in
a public meeting about two years ago … and that was definitely one of the
concerns raised, is the fact of what happens if you nick a vein? Or you get some
kind of hematoma in the guy’s arm as you’re testing him for blood? There’s a
concern there with the safety. That’s probably one of the bigger things, but
also the fact that there’s so much more you can get from the urine. Yeah, you
could do both as well, but that doesn’t lessen the safety risk. But blood is
always an option.”
On having more money now for out-of-competition
testing: “Last fiscal year, we basically had nothing. That was definitely
nothing I wanted to broadcast to let the athletes know that, but now our
legislation was very kind and understood the concern and was able to fund it for
not just this fiscal year but next fiscal year as well.”
On the
surprise test Alistair Overeem
was given at a UFC 146 news conference in March: “I had done that once
before in, I think, July, at the beginning of the fiscal year, where we had a
couple of boxers here for a press conference. We still did not have someone to
come on the scene from the drug-collecting agency to collect it. So in those
situations, I informed the fighters where they needed to go and they went and
did that after the press conference. But starting in September, as I mentioned
before, we now have an agency. … They’re highly trained in the collection of
urine samples and they come there and they collect the sample from the athletes.
…
“We were going to have Overeem tested anyway because of the condition
from his 2011 license, but that was the first thing [I thought] when I found
out: ‘Oh, there’s going to be a press conference. Oh, Overeem’s going to be
there. Oh, good. Good, instead of relying on him to go to a lab and give the
urine sample, I can send the lab to him. It makes it easier on him and it makes
it easier on me.’”
On why Overeem was not denied a license for missing
the commission’s deadlines before the Brock Lesnar
bout: “That was definitely an option. They made him come before the
commission beyond the hearing, on the telephone there, and answer some very
tough questions. That was something. Walking into that meeting … that was
definitely something where he needed to prove to them that they should still
give him a license. And he actually did a very good job at that meeting, and the
commission gave him a license but conditioned it. He had another test that was
done even before the fight when he got here in Nevada. Of course we did the
normal tests fight night, but then there was also two tests he needed to do
within six months after the fight. This one on the 27th was the first. There’s
still one pending if it’s even necessary. So that was something where he had to
go through the ringer for that one.”
On whether it’s important for a
fighter to show remorse after a failed test: “I think it helps. I’m not sure
if it necessarily would translate into a lesser fine or a lesser suspension, but
I think it does translate into some sort of goodwill and forgiveness from the
fans, which may be more important. I think it also translates into goodwill from
the officials going forward, be it the Nevada commission or another commission,
going forward, when the athlete has done his or her time and is coming back to
the sport. I think it’s very important in those two aspects, and perhaps that’s
even more important than having a small reduction in your
suspension.”
Listen to the full interview
(beginning at 1:08:46).
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