Promoter says cost of PED testing as mandated by the NMAC is too high

Jon Judy is not against testing for performance-enhancing drugs, and in fact is in favor of it.

He’s decidedly against, however, the prospect of costly PED tests putting combat-sports promoters out of business.

The latter, he says, is what’s likely to happen if a PED testing policy approved at the New Mexico Athletic Commission’s July meeting is not revised.

Judy, a promoter and matchmaker for the Albuquerque-based FightWorld MMA franchise, made that case at the commission’s Aug. 23 meeting.

Armed with research he’d done in reaching out to other state commissions, and with his own recollection of what has been done in New Mexico in past years, Judy said the PED testing policy the NMAC approved at its July meeting would make it almost impossible for a local, off-TV promotion to turn a profit or simply break even.

The NMAC-approved policy calls for fighters in a title fight and/or a main event to be tested for PEDs. As well, one-third of the fighters on the remainder of the card would be tested at random.

“It should be a given that the health and safety of the athletes is paramount to anything else,” Judy said at the August meeting. “However, it also has to be done practically and it has to be economically viable for promoters in the state of New Mexico.”

The PED-testing policy approved in July, he said, combined with the customary testing for illicit/recreational drugs, could result in a cost increase of up to 600%, defending on the size of a card.

“You’ll price us out of the market,” he said.

At the NMAC’s May meeting, it came to light that the commission had not tested participants for PEDs at combat-sports events since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down those activities in the state from March 2020 through August 2021.

In July, the commission opted to use the same process for PED testing as it customarily has used in testing for illicit drugs. Title-fight and/or main-event fighters would be tested as routine; one third of the fighters on undercard fights would be selected at random.

At the Aug. 23 meeting, Judy said that in the interim he’d canvassed New Mexico’s neighboring state commissions regarding their PED-testing policies.

Arizona, he said, performs PED testing for one out of every 10 bouts. Colorado, he said, does PED testing only at the request of a promotion.

Judy said Texas, a far busier combat-sports state than New Mexico, tests three bouts for every 10 but that the cost of testing is paid by the fighters — the invoice for testing presented to the promoter but the expense figured into the fighter’s paycheck.

Neither Arizona, Colorado nor Texas tests amateur fighters for PEDs, as is a provision in the policy approved by the NMAC in July.

As for PED testing in New Mexico before the COVID shutdown, Judy, who has been a promoter and matchmaker in the state since 2008, said he didn’t recall the policy approved in July ever having been followed.

“During the time prior to COVID, there were only four to six PED tests (those for title fights),” he said. “Period. … So it’s not like we went less and less as COVID ended. We never had it in the first place.”

On that point, Judy’s recollection differs from that of Gavin Pantoja, who served on the NMAC from 2013-19.

Pantoja said in a May interview with the Journal that during his tenure, PED testing was done in the manner adopted by the commission in July: main-event fighters tested regularly, undercard fighters totaling one-third of the card tested at random.

As his presentation concluded, Judy asked that the commission “reconsider, rescind, revert (the policy adopted in July), whatever the case may be. Find some kind of compromise to eliminate the PED testing for now until we can come together and actually have a testing policy that makes sense (and) that’s gonna provide for both the health and safety of the fighters and keep it (possible) to continue to do shows.”

Lawrence Louick, NMAC vice chairman, then offered a motion to suspend the PED testing protocol approved in July. But commission members Jerome O’Connell and Ed Manzanares demurred, saying they were uncomfortable with continuing not to test for PEDs.

Louick then withdrew his motion, saying, “I only ask that we make this the top priority going forward.”

Since the adoption in July of a PED testing policy, the NMAC has officiated two professional combat-sports events.

The first, a pro boxing card on Aug. 10 at Tingley Coliseum, was promoted by Top Rank, Inc., an international firm, and televised nationally on ESPN. Top Rank, based in Nevada, is accustomed to paying for PED testing.

The second was a FightWorld card at Revel Entertainment Center, which occurred the day after the commission’s Aug. 23 meeting.

In a phone interview, Judy confirmed he’s been billed for PED testing after the FightWorld card but didn’t know how much he was charged because he hadn’t looked at the invoice.

He declined further comment.