Charles Oliveira has earned a reputation as one of the UFC’s cleanest fighters, but that doesn’t mean he believes everyone else is playing by the same rules. The BMF champion has never failed a drug test and was even given a commemorative UFC jacket in 2023 for successfully passing 50 consecutive tests under the promotion’s anti-doping program.

But despite his immaculate record, ‘Do Bronx’ admits he still isn’t convinced the system catches everyone. In an interview with ALF Global, the Brazilian claimed he believes some fighters are still finding ways to beat the UFC’s anti-doping program.

“To be honest, if I’m being completely frank, I sincerely believe that somehow someone really can cheat,” he said in his native Portuguese. “Because you see people who, you know, honestly, I don’t know if they do it or not or if they somehow manage to fool the system, the doping control. I believe that sooner or later someone will be able to finally figure it out.”

And to be fair, the timing of Charles Oliveira’s comments will definitely raise some eyebrows. Just a few weeks ago, Conor McGregor’s comeback at UFC 329 reignited conversations about the UFC’s anti-doping program.

That’s because, The New York Times published a report suggesting, based on two anonymous sources, that ‘The Notorious’ continued to use banned steroids and human growth hormone while recovering from a broken leg he suffered against Dustin Poirier in 2021.

According to the report, Conor McGregor remained outside the UFC’s anti-doping testing pool during that period and later disclosed the use of those substances after re-entering the program in 2023.

According to one of the unnamed sources, the Irishman told UFC officials that he continued to use the substances because he “liked how they made him feel and the energy they gave him.”

The report further claimed that after returning to the testing pool in October 2023, McGregor couldn’t be located for three successive drug tests, which further deteriorated the relationship between the UFC and USADA, the agency that was at the time tasked with running the promotion’s anti-doping program. However, ‘The Notorious’ and the UFC have strongly refuted these claims.

According to a statement released to The New York Times by the UFC, Conor McGregor underwent medical treatment following what could have been a career-ending injury, followed every anti-doping protocol upon his return, and has since produced 32 negative samples across 22 tests since rejoining the UFC’s new testing program.

And, while Charles Oliveira did not mention Conor McGregor by name, his comments come at a time when questions surrounding anti-doping compliance have once again been a hot topic in MMA.

Interestingly, they also arrived just days after Charles Oliveira publicly accused Conor McGregor of avoiding a fight with him. Before UFC 329, the 36-year-old, not Max Holloway, should have welcomed the Irishman back to the Octagon. However, according to ‘Do Bronx,’ the Irishman simply ducked him.

Instead, McGregor faced Holloway in the UFC 329 main event, but his comeback was cut short when he injured his knee 69 seconds into the first round, ending the dream comeback with a TKO defeat. It is also worth noting that Charles Oliveira’s comments come against the backdrop of a long-running debate over the UFC’s anti-doping system.

UFC’s anti-doping debate didn’t end with USADA

Things got messy between the UFC and USADA in late 2023 over Conor McGregor’s comeback. According to Sport Resolutions, USADA stated that ‘The Notorious’ would have to spend six months in the testing pool before he could fight again.

And as per USADA, the Dana White-led promotion simply wasn’t having it, so they parted ways with the agency at the end of 2023 and put together a new program headed by Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD), which has been in charge of the promotion’s drug testing program since January 2024. However, as expected, the UFC pushed back against USADA’s version of the story.

The promotion outright denied the agency’s claims and even threatened legal action for defamation, stating that it had already chosen to move on because it wanted to implement a more advanced anti-doping policy.

So, on January 1, 2024, the UFC officially replaced USADA with Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD), with testing conducted by Drug Free Sport International, supervised by former FBI agent George Piro.

To be fair, Charles Oliveira’s recent claim does not necessarily mean that fighters are slipping through the cracks. Just last week, former UFC light heavyweight title challenger Volkan Oezdemir was handed a 16-month suspension after testing positive for EPO.

According to the UFC, he admitted to using the prohibited substance and actively cooperated with the CSAD’s investigation, including sharing his personal messages with a pharmacist who had allegedly told him the drug wouldn’t show up in blood or urine testing. That cooperation helped him get a reduced suspension.

Oezdemir is only one of several fighters disciplined under the current program. Earlier this year, heavyweight Mohammed Usman was suspended for 30 months after testing positive for testosterone and the prohibited peptide BPC-157, while Bassil Hafez was also suspended for 12 months after testing positive for ipamorelin, with the CSAD handing out a reduced sentence after determining there was no evidence he wanted to cheat.

Those cases illustrate the difficult balance facing the UFC’s anti-doping program. While Charles Oliveira feels that certain athletes may still come up with ways to get around the testing procedure, CSAD continues to detect, while the UFC continues to suspend fighters who breach the promotion’s anti-doping rules.