Agreement on structural doping controls in combat sports

Doping controls will be carried out on a structural basis in kickboxing, Thai boxing and mixed martial arts (MMA) in the Netherlands. The Nederlandse Vechtsportautoriteit (VA, the Dutch Combat Sports Authority) and the Dopingautoriteit (the Dutch Doping Authority) have reached an agreement on this. Until now, doping controls took place only incidentally in combat sports, as a result of the fragmented organisation of the sector.

"This is an important step in the professionalisation of combat sports," says VA director Farid Gamei. "Our sports are practised by more than half a million people in the Netherlands. In a normal year, 7,000 bouts take place. More than half of the competitive athletes are minors, which makes it all the more important to have a clean sporting culture. We are very pleased with this development, which fits our mandate to make these sports cleaner, healthier and better organised."

Herman Ram, chair of the Dopingautoriteit, endorses the importance of this step. "Sports that fall within the Olympic organisational structure are automatically subject to doping controls. Because these combat sports fall outside that structure, promoters and small federations had to organise this themselves, and that proved to be virtually unworkable. Now that the Nederlandse Vechtsportautoriteit has brought more structure to the Dutch combat sports world, it has become possible to enter into a partnership with the Dopingautoriteit."

In the first months of 2021, the Vechtsportautoriteit and the Dopingautoriteit will launch an extensive information campaign to prepare competitive athletes properly for the doping controls. Competitive fighters and their coaches will be informed in detail about, among other things, what is permitted and what is prohibited, what to look out for when using nutritional supplements and medicines, how medical exemptions work, how the doping controls will be carried out, and what the rights and obligations of all those involved are. Exactly the same rules will apply to combat sports as to all other sports. The Instituut Sportrechtspraak (ISR, the Dutch institute for sports disciplinary law) will handle any disciplinary proceedings as an independent body.

All federations and promoters active in the Netherlands commit themselves to the doping programme through their covenant with the Nederlandse Vechtsportautoriteit. Without these covenants, it is not possible to organise official bouts in the Netherlands.

The announcement was followed by positive responses from within the combat sports community. Glory champion Rico Verhoeven told De Telegraaf: "This is so incredibly important for our sport. We are now making it safer and more professional. The only reason you would not want this is if you have something to hide. If you want to make your sport professional, and that is what we want with kickboxing, then this is the way to do it."