{"id":421512,"date":"2026-01-20T13:50:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T13:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/421512\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T13:50:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T13:50:07","slug":"ufc-doping-czar-novitzky-denies-promotion-gave-lewis-prohibited-peptides","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/421512\/","title":{"rendered":"UFC doping czar Novitzky denies promotion gave Lewis \u2018prohibited\u2019 peptides"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The UFC would like everyone to know that they\u2019re not giving Derrick Lewis illegal peptides.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cThe Black Beast\u201d raised a number of eyebrows over the weekend when he announced on a new video podcast that he was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/ufc-news\/415544\/ufc-324s-derrick-lewis-says-ufc-provided-me-with-some-great-peptides\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">taking peptides<\/a> given to him by the UFC.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cThe UFC provided me with some great peptides, and I\u2019ve been taking it every day, and I\u2019ve been feeling a difference,\u201d Lewis declared.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cIt was really mind blowing how quickly the peptides took effect,\u201d his coach said. \u201cYou know, it\u2019s going to be a game changer for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">This was some pretty interesting news given that peptides are generally considered banned substances under the UFC\u2019s anti-doping program, which is administered by Drug Free Sports International. With Lewis about to compete against Waldo Cortes-Acosta at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/ufc-324-news-results-paramount-streaming-updates-mma\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">UFC 324<\/a> this weekend, it seemed important that we receive some sort of clarification as to what was going on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Now we have that (to a degree) from UFC\u2019s senior vice president of athlete health and performance Jeff Novitzky, also known as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/2015\/4\/6\/8355585\/ufc-hires-former-balco-investigato-jeff-novitzki-vice-president-athlete-health-drugs-mma\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">promotion\u2019s doping czar.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cUFC did NOT provide Derrick Lewis with peptides,\u201d Novitzky wrote in a tweet. \u201cPeptides are prohibited at all times under UFC and athletic commissions\u2019 rules. Derrick is referring to injectable compounds that are 3rd party tested and certified as ALLOWED AT ALL TIMES by TruShild Certified.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">We\u2019d love to know exactly what these legal compounds are, but we imagine the UFC can\u2019t just reveal specific drugs being given to their fighters by doctors, whether those doctors are on their payroll or not. We still have some questions though, like why Lewis and his coach were so specific on calling the treatments \u2018peptides.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">If Lewis was taking peptides, it would be hard for DFSI to tell. Because these substances are amino acid chains that quickly break down, their half-life (the time they remain detectable in the body via drug tests) is often measured in hours, not even days. So let\u2019s hope Derrick Lewis misspoke and Jeff Novitzky is correct, because Cortes-Acosta and future Lewis opponents would likely never know if Derrick was actually using illegal peptides.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UFC would like everyone to know that they\u2019re not giving Derrick Lewis illegal peptides. \u201cThe Black Beast\u201d&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82,153471,139445,702],"class_list":["post-421512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc-324","tag-ufc-on-paramount","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}