Joe Rogan Experience #10009 — Jeff Novitzky Transcript

Transcript

0:00 Four, three, two, one. I just want to say, it's not my nickname. So when did he come up with this? lets me know, Hey, check out Wikipedia. So for whatever reason, there's a Jeff Novitsky Wikipedia name says Jeffrey John Nowitzki, original employees of the UFC. Was Dana's assistant to start out with, went on to become VP of event And so Dana pulled me into the office and said, hey, what do you think about this idea? And it took me literally a half second to say a hundred percent on board. This woman,

2:51 Again, I'm all good with it. Because he was a guy who was giving guys steroids. That's the golden snitch. Sorry. So she, you know, works hard for all those things. And it was a huge issue before you came along, a huge issue in the sport, and continues to be in other organizations, particularly overseas. But since you've come along and since you guys started instituting this incredibly strict testing,

5:50 we talked about kind of the smell test, you know, looking at somebody and, you know, it's difficult Maybe you're not catching everybody. And almost universally, the feedback I get from them is this is making a big difference. you know, better programs than others. None really have any independence in the administration of biological passports and biological markers. And they looked at what was the most common factor

8:56 So they looked at that and plotted it out and saw, hey, every doper has a very large variance of 2015 so usada has been in existence for two years so you see here um that first quarter quarter Well, one of the things that's so fascinating about this, and this goes to credit to the UFC 100%, is that they decided to do something And the results have been pretty amazing.

11:34 no predictability of when the test is coming, there can be some very severe consequences. The success of the pay-per-view probably hinges on that great main event between tests on this date. I think, July 30th, which was weigh-in day. And the positive test was for dehydrochloromethyl an athlete may gamble with taking because it had a drug that, you know, even if you run a strict program, an athlete may

14:45 hey, I'm tested quite regularly in this program, would not make a lot of sense that that would be at this point in the game with that type of information out there, you know, last July 8th positive test and, or negative test careful about everything that's put into your body, everything. And if getting the maximum for that, for those substances he tested positive for a year.

18:18 So it really was careless disregard. when the first-term offense was shown that that person didn't cheat intentionally, and those that have been adjudicated, I've been comfortable every time that they've made a fair and balanced and reasonable decision. Now, you say starting point, meaning that it could potentially be more? And Chad Mendez, his was some sort of psoriasis cream or something?

21:29 from another substance. Because I know he has psoriasis and someone had said, or had read, Usually in those instances where the evidence does show that, you will see a mitigating found out those were also tainted. I did that with Tim. Then what happens is USADA will independently procure some themselves. And what I tell them is it goes deeper than that.

24:49 Right. There is something that you can do, and it's actually pretty simple to do. there's no excuse that you can't find as, you know, UFC athlete products that are tested and type of thing. most fighters, he's really only got about three months off, any cold medication they're taking, anything, type in the name of it, because they all walk through there every day

28:20 an instructional video, most of the time reminders about smart supplement choices, know where you're at. There are repercussions if you don't let them know where you're at when we know that a fighter has a UFC obligation. So whether they're a guest fighter on the road, Sometimes you forget. where you saw it and knew she was going to be. She would have gotten a whereabouts failure.

31:09 Now, when you have a fighter like Holly Holm, I think said she was tested nine times in preparation for this fight against Cyborg. A lot of times they show up 5.30, 6 in the morning. take a pee. Could be, you know, some fighters wait hours. You know. I don't think enough attention is being paid to the burden that's on the athletes dirty. Neither have I. And, you know, I think as you look at the testing statistics, and that's

33:11 directed to them versus, you know, athletes at the bottom that are jumping in and out they want I say, hey, wear this as a badge of honor. I mean, we talked about this when you toured it. perfect world class personnel. that there's no excuse for an athlete to not, A, find their right weight class, He's actually wrestled with a lot of our fighters. And in a situation like that, yeah, he's, you know, giving advice

36:45 that test take? I've never gone through it or actually never seen it. I got to get over there an advocate for our athletes. we can get you out there earlier, but you gotta come. and therapy you need. But I don't think I've ever seen one that's that well equipped. in here to explain it in detail you guys even have sleep pods which i thought was the craziest

39:42 Francis Ngann lives has lived Yeah, from another country. stimulate or simulate a high altitude. Yeah, I think 22,000 feet. But isn't the way you're I didn't even know it was that high. Seems like that would be a good thing to do, right? but um you know vegas has some good coaches but i i anticipate more and more gyms moving and looking to influence the UFC athlete, but also influence positively MMA, the whole, the entire

42:53 Bobby Green, who was there, brought a couple of his training partners. And Jeff's a cool guy. It's a nickname that doesn't even make sense. I talked to you guys and I talked to Duncan about a tank, about you guys getting tanks in there, if you guys had those, So I want to get you in touch with them and just have you try it. And it's amazing. I had one in the basement. She's like,

45:20 an amazing place to focus on sport in the world. When you're walking out into an octagon and facing one of the baddest mixed I mean, everything to fight night. I mean, fight night, these athletes are in a it doesn't get to them in some way or form. have really concentrated on more over the last few years than I think ever that I could recall. but we also want them to retain their independence.

49:03 I saw early on in my tenure here to get beat. You're going to live through this thing. You're just letting it surface. Everybody You know the one fighter that, because I pay really close attention after having seen that early, I'm like, who is this guy? And he said it when he got signed. I mean, this is what they do in boot camp, right? you're delusional in your perceptions. It's amazing seeing the different ways that different

53:11 And so Holly was out in the hallway getting ready to do that long walk for the championship bout. around at all. But you know, Hey, you see both, both of them, you know, can have success doing I remember how, the five minutes after she was in the cage and Cyborg was walking out, the 10 or 15 seconds between every round, she probably, you know. And just Holly's been known for not just her cardio, but like I said in the Ronda fight, her legs, the way she can move.

55:20 She's a different level of athlete. The way she delivered it was very skillful, very methodical, very professional. in the germaine germaine de ronda me fight you saw it and obviously the ronda fight she's very sneaky she knows how to will fight, get down to weight, fight, and then bounce way back up and just lose the ability, And you look down on the list, you're like, okay, here comes a female fight.

58:32 And they realize that, look, this is the time to go for it. Yep. Some sort of a response, like your body's like, what can you do, both in cutting back in training and, you know, through your diet to help, you know, control and regulate that. And they were looking into traumatic brain injury to be is ahead of the curve in terms of potential therapies out there for, you know, for treating

1:01:30 how they use this for a sniper simulation. And what they did is they took this woman But I'm curious to see if the UFC has looked into some of these things. In a matter of weeks, they went away. you know, the UFC wants to be at the forefront of and, you know, be the first to, you know, And it's an iPad-based test. California, the Wednesday or Thursday before the fight, goes through the C3 logic testing.

1:05:37 leagues. And the one thing I will say, you know, with MMA, now this is excluding things that are Like Alistair Overeem and Francis Ngannou. Yeah, I don't know the answer to that. I think it's an unknown now, but you also look at, you know, dead. Depending upon what genes they have, some people are more predisposed to CTE. but we we want we want you to be safe and you say that you're slurring your words and then he

1:09:03 You have to, right? It was actually the Nevada Commission that saw this and said wait a second if you're really in that much pain like and we can't early in his career when he's in his prime, to have some physical gifts cardiovascularly. And I think Kane will admit that he has some, And if you're not completely healthy, you're going to be probably exposed from whatever little injury you have.

1:11:14 There's ways to figure a way around things. You also have the underwater treadmill, which you saw. You got to try to keep up with it. He put a lot of stuff out there on social media on that thing. I think he liked it. Well, that's why you should come out and get on it. Otherwise, if you're healthy and training for a fight coming up in a couple weeks, I

1:13:42 And I would love to see the guys at the Performance Institute try to tackle that It was like six or seven weeks, I think. They were each tested 16 times in that seven weeks. Forrest Griffin was showing me how the octagon is set up with 360-degree cameras, When Forrest was showing me how you can move it around, This thing. That all the fighters sparring sessions are filmed. They're filmed from an overhead.

1:16:44 Yeah, you know, you talked about wouldn't it be nice to have two opponents working side by side. themselves but that definitely was taken they are they're both yeah but what i if i was deep There it is. knee with no pad, kick with no pad on the shin, But you realize like your wrist moves around. Elbows are some of the hardest. But he's chopping at this banana tree and cuts it in half.

1:20:27 fucking hit in the face with that but see the difference like that's hard bone yeah it's no you go the other way. I think you don't pat up anything. It would be the exact same issue if you had bare gets poked in the eye and my my thought process is even if it's unintentional the damage has been Remove the intent from it because the damage is already done at that point.

1:22:48 I accidentally need your eye socket. You wrap up your wrists and your wrist and your hand becomes a cast where it's not bending at all. I just think that we have The UFC, I thought so. Pretty much. Michigan, where we just came from, has a no tolerance policy for marijuana. which I think were a little bit, I think 35, this for, you know, pain control or stress or anxiety. And, you know,

1:27:28 stop governing or policing just because you can. Yeah. We ran into that with the whole Courtney She's just crying uncontrollably, saying, So I said, okay, let me check into it. And knowing what that measurement means, I said- which is, you know, legal medication. And so what you do now in anti-doping, when you have an That means she's positive. He goes, well, our office is closed Monday.

1:30:36 Sure enough, most of the samples were mildly elevated. And we got a hold of that remaining sample, her B sample, had it tested at a WADA laboratory and was negative on the IRMS. things like once someone says you're a steroid cheater probably always she talked i mean she Was not a great performance for her. I mean, but that's, again, going back to the mental game,

1:33:22 you have individual athletes that are you know, are competing against when Nate fought Connor, I think the second time, he goes to the press conference after and takes intent of the rule. This is, you know, and they never indicated that they were going to sanction That's the big one people use it for. The WADA prohibited list, which we followed, anytime. That's fantastic. That's fantastic. So it was good. So, but we identified a problem with, with the rules in that when Nate finished that,

1:36:41 fighter finishes a fight and somehow USADA is not able to get to him, say, after we change this rule, Nate and Nick Diaz come to a fight, and they're sitting He didn't look at me he was looking somewhere else so about a month later Nate I see him I'm and I think it was in Vegas I'm in the kind of walkout tunnel and here comes Nate Yeah, that is a very good rule. I is like excited about a change in a USADA rule right yeah that is a that

1:38:59 people that are cheating and trying to avoid testing. And I just think Nick's lifestyle led to those three kind of whereabouts, It's kind of unbeknownst to him that he was missing a lot of these things. Nevertheless, you know that again, there's strict liability here and It's real. Like instead of, I know it was one of the ways that some fighters have gotten caught

1:41:08 and it was actually something that doesn't make any sense if both those people got busted. maybe you catch them through, you know, informants or other investigative resources. Pressure. Exactly. Now that documentary blew my mind. Redchenkov? He goes under protective custody. runner for Russia. And Vitaly actually worked for RUSADA, the Russian anti-doping organization,

1:44:10 Gregory did it, you know, obviously hopelessness out there that, you know, how am I ever know that I'm as a clean athlete, you know, my rights are going to be protected. Again, going back to what we're doing with the UFC, And that they really, it was in their best interest to not sanction Russia. there. USADA is a nonprofit organization. So the UFC, yes, the UFC does pay them to administer our

1:46:27 Takes a lot of courage to do that. Which is pretty significant track and field being a pretty big Olympic sport in Korean. The Yeah. random people i don't they might not have had a country to perform or their whole country might And as new tests come online, like the long-term metabolite test that Gregory developed, I have to make sure you're successful under the program. But, you know, success in my eyes is

1:50:18 that transcend sports. I have three daughters that played sports growing up. A couple of them Sports is about to be healthy for you. I think that ultimately what sports should be about, it should be about effort, skill, If everybody was clean, they might have been the best athlete anyway. I think I talked about this last time, but I really, you know, people are surprised to

1:53:03 So, yeah, I mean, I feel good about, you know, himself. But what he did is he became very powerful in the sport. Whole new level. and that before them, it really stemmed from the US program, where under the WADA code, you ban the understand what you're doing here? You're going to put fighters in unsafe positions where they're And while, you know, I wasn't an expert in it, I had to get out and talk to a lot of fighters,

1:56:52 How do we get these fighters back or these soldiers back rehydrated and back into the fight but you know, we put that out there and educated heavily on that. If they're over that, California can recommend the fight or move up a weight class. Say you had a rule that if you miss weight, you can't fight again for 12 months. But I think right now, UFC has put, I think, toward that problem. And, you know, hey, maybe two, three years from now,

2:00:28 I believe they do three leading up to the fight which really was it Benavides was telling me this should be this idea that the best way to fight is to cheat and to drain all yourself of fluids and and it's not difficult, it's not dangerous for them to drop 10 or 15 pounds. This is madness to me. This goes against what fighting is supposed to be. What we talked about before, about discipline and focus and technique and training. That's what competing is supposed to be about. It's supposed to be about a fight where two equally skillful individuals try to figure out who's got the best strategy and who's got the best will and technique. It's not supposed to be about who can do this legal cheating thing best,

2:03:20 fighter gets up on the scale makes, immediately goes behind the curtain and has their pre-fight physical. these fighters What I would really love in a perfect world, besides the bare knuckle thing, What happened in our first championship fight? I think the hydration test should be along with that. to determine, is that the proper term? And, you know, if you see someone with a bunch of weight to lose that is, you know, relatively dehydrated, specific gravity wise, then, you know,

2:06:45 Okay. will be well you're just encouraging even greater weight cuts and regains but i think this morning weigh-in thing They don't have to wait until 4 p.m. in the afternoon. you know environmentally unfriendly arena you then get back on the bus, window in the morning to do that. hey, I've got to take this more professionally and hire a nutritionist like Khabib

2:10:18 to the performance institute I think there's no excuse now that if you're a new fighter and you're we've got some new technology. What do you guys think about And they went to me. Nice. And this light turns red when that blood's drawn out. You have a collector doing that. They're all going to say, obviously, this. So I think incredible efficiency, convenience to the athlete for our program.

2:14:49 That's amazing. Anything else? And, I mean, pretty much everyone agrees. fighter that you saw to try that out on. So I sent her a text going, hey, Rose, I heard they did the leaching device and the dried blood spot test. They're going to think. And you're affecting the way that dopers are doping these days. time I was on, but the Floyd Landis, Lance days, they were manipulating during the tour to France,

2:17:44 That's why the UFC program there's no Or give them the wearable device so when they're sleeping, so you don't interrupt their sleep and that USADA, I think, dedicates $3 million a year grants toward research in anti-doping,