Weidman, Masvidal and Poirier reveal their most chaotic USADA testing encounters

Chris Weidman, Jorge Masvidal and Dustin Poirier lifted the lid on the more absurd side of UFC drug testing during a candid conversation on the Deep Waters podcast, recounting a string of surprise visits and stressful encounters with USADA agents that followed them into some unlikely corners of their daily lives.

Weidman, the former UFC middleweight champion, had the most eventful catalogue of stories. On one occasion, testers tracked him down mid-round at a golf course, forcing him to step away from the game while his playing partners waited.

“I was golfing one time and so they had to come to the golf course and they waited for me at the turn,” Weidman said. “I had to go take pee and blood and my boys had to wait for me to do it, because once they see you, you can’t leave their eyesight.”

A separate incident nearly cost him more than just inconvenience. Weidman was staying at a mountain home when testers arrived at his primary residence. He rushed back, but traffic meant he missed the mandatory two-hour testing window by the time he arrived — earning a formal warning in the process.

Perhaps the most stressful episode came when USADA arrived unannounced while Weidman was recovering from surgery, still wearing an IV band on his arm — a banned method under the programme’s rules at the time.

“So, I do the IV, I come back from the hospital, I’m on the painkillers and everything and I have the band on my arm from the IV and you’re not allowed to get IVs,” Weidman said. “It was a f*cking nightmare and I was so paranoid that I was going to get in trouble.”

Masvidal’s account centred on the physical demands the timing of tests could impose. Testers arrived at American Top Team shortly after a hard training session and then accompanied him across Miami while he waited to produce a sample — a process that stretched across meals and errands.

“I’m at Top Team; they followed me all the way to Miami,” Masvidal said. “Take them everywhere with me, eating, drinking. You’ve got to get me before practice; don’t ever come after practice.”

Poirier, meanwhile, recalled being pulled into a test while in the middle of purchasing a vehicle — a reminder that USADA’s whereabouts requirements left fighters with virtually no off-duty hours during their time enrolled in the programme.

The UFC parted ways with USADA as its anti-doping partner in 2023, transitioning to the Drug Free Sport AXIS programme. The stories shared by Weidman, Masvidal and Poirier offer a rare first-hand account of what life under the old regime looked like for fighters at the top of the sport.