About the Program
Zuffa Boxing
The Zuffa Boxing Anti-Doping Program (ZB ADP) aims to provide the platinum standard anti-doping program for professional boxing. Every ZB ADP athlete on the active roster will be subject to unannounced testing 365 days a year, at any time of day or night. Zuffa Boxing will provide 24/7 resources and support to help athletes remain compliant with the program.
Zuffa Boxing also offers a robust education program, including extensive onboarding sessions for all new athletes and ongoing anti-doping education for all athletes and their support teams. The ZB ADP will use a custom-built whereabouts reporting platform and employ best-in-class anti-doping components for sample collection and laboratory analysis. The program is structured so that final testing or any penalty assessments are made by an independent third-party administrator: Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD).
Drug-Free Sport International (DFS)
DFSI is the official biological sample collection and shipping provider for the ZB ADP and is considered the global leader in anti-doping sample collection and logistics. In addition to servicing the ZB ADP worldwide, DFSI also provides services for Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Football League (NFL), FIFA, the PGA Tour, the LPGA Tour, the NCAA, NASCAR, and others. DFSI maintains a network of more than 5,000 sample collection personnel across the globe, uniquely positioning them to collect samples from Zuffa Boxing athletes throughout the world.
Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory (SMRTL)
Every Zuffa Boxing athlete sample collected worldwide is shipped to and analyzed by the Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory (SMRTL), a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)–accredited laboratory located in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. SMRTL is widely regarded as one of the top anti-doping laboratories in the world.
Dr. Daniel Eichner, SMRTL’s president and laboratory director, serves as the ZB ADP’s science director. He advises Zuffa Boxing and its independent administrator on rules, the prohibited list, and the interpretation of sample results. Dr. Eichner is recognized as one of the leading anti-doping scientists globally, and he and SMRTL have collaborated with the UFC on peer-reviewed anti-doping research and plans the same for Zuffa Boxing.
Sending every sample to a single laboratory offers numerous benefits. In addition to screening each sample against the ZB ADP prohibited list, SMRTL maintains a robust biological passport program for all Zuffa Boxing athletes, tracking urine and blood markers over time to identify fluctuations that may indicate prohibited performance-enhancing drug use.
Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD)
Since early 2024, CSAD has served as the independent administrator of the UFC ADP and serves the same role for Zuffa Boxing. CSAD is led by its president, George Piro, a senior executive with more than 30 years of distinguished service in federal and local law enforcement, including over 20 years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). During his tenure with the FBI, Mr. Piro held several notable roles, including Special Agent in Charge of the Miami Field Office; Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Office’s Counterterrorism Branch; and Supervisory Special Agent and Team Leader of the Saddam Hussein Interrogation Team in Baghdad, Iraq.
Importantly, Mr. Piro is also a high-level No-Gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Masters World Champion, regularly trains with professional MMA athletes, and is deeply familiar with the combat sports world. Contractually, he holds all final decision-making authority under the ZB ADP, including test distribution planning, therapeutic use exemption (TUE) determinations, and results management for whereabouts failures and adverse findings (sanctions/suspensions). His independent authority is a critical component of the program, ensuring that no internal business or personal interests interfere with maintaining a clean and fair Zuffa Boxing.
Additionally, CSAD operates a tip line for reporting information related to prohibited performance-enhancing drug use within Zuffa Boxing: tipline@csad.org.
