Dana White has taken a lot of steps to legitimize mixed martial arts as a sport. While it was once promoted as a no hold barred event, now multiple things are barred. To provide a safe and even competing field for all fighters, the UFC instituted a stringent drug program in conjunction with USADA.

While the USADA system has not been the best, it has removed the air of doubt over fighters being on steroids or not. One issue that the UFC still keep running into are fighters getting suspended for marijuana use. While the substance should most definitely be illicit during a fight, these issues stem from usage prior to the fight. Niko Price and Kevin Croom were the latest victim of marijuana suspensions.

White has commented on the use of marijuana on MMA and how fighters can use it without popping for it.

“I don’t think you can’t test. When you’re in-competition you have to test these guys. You can’t let somebody go into the ring high. It just can’t happen, you know? So yeah. I don’t know what to do with that. But we’re trying to, you know, what’s the word I’m looking for, we’re trying to loosen it up. But at the same time, you can’t have guys showing up high.”

Dana White and marijuana use in the UFC

Dana White has often come down hard on marijuana use by UFC fighters. However, he reserves it for extreme cases. One of the most public cases became the battle between White and Matt Riddle. Riddle had multiple UFC wins overturned for marijuana and would eventually be released, with White calling Riddle ‘addicted to marijuana’.

Whether marijuana has an impact on performance in the cage is widely debated. But one thing that everyone can be clear of is that it isn’t the same as entering a fight completely clean, which most fighters should be doing. However, being suspended for use while out of competition is unnecessary. Many fighters use marijuana as pain management to avoid using pain pills, which are highly addictive and have impacted many lives before.