Morning Report: Frank Mir says USADA is testing too strictly 'to justify their paycheck at the end of the day'

Frank Mir is not a huge fan of USADA.

Back in April, Mir was flagged by USADA for a drug violation resulting from an in-competition test from his fight with Mark Hunt in March. Mir immediately released a statement denying taking an PEDs. Ultimately, Mir was removed as a Fox studio analyst and appears to be out of fighting until April 2018.

Since then there hasn't been much the former two-time heavyweight champion. However, Mir spoke with Brett Okamoto on the Five Rounds podcast Wednesday to discuss his thoughts on USADA's success at curtailing PEDs and how it was effecting the organization.

"I think it's actually nailing a lot of guys it seems that aren't trying to do anything wrong to begin with. [There are] a lot of good examples of people - what about Tim Means? There's a situation where somebody kind of got screwed that really wasn't doing anything wrong or trying to really circumvent the system."

Means failed a USADA test in February for the substance ostarine but negotiated a six-month suspension after successfully proving to USADA that his test came as a result of a tainted supplement. It's a defense offered up by many fighters who find themselves on the wrong end of a failed USADA test and one Mir says is likely to continue happening because of the manner of testing USADA engages in.

"I think now you have USADA is in the business of trying to catch as many people as they can and they're trying to make the tests as sensitive as possible even before the tests are really plausible as far as, ‘well have you ruled out any other situations that could cause a false positive?' And they come forward with the tests before that's conclusive because they want to justify their paycheck at the end of the day.

"I think they're in a situation where not that many people are really trying to cheat so now they're trying to make the tests so extensive that they can find the minutest molecule someone might come in contact with but in a lot of situations, to really tell someone that they're responsible for everything that enters into their body - we've already seen situations like Yoel Romero and Tim Means are buying supplements from the store and they're getting in trouble. Then overseas guys eating tainted meats and now all of a sudden they test positive for clenbuterol. It's overboard I think."

Mir has previously suggested that he is one of these victims of circumstance. Earlier this year, after Mir's B sample also tested positive for the same oral turinabol metabolites as his March test, Mir suggested a possible explanation for his failed test was due to consuming kangaroo meat in Australia, which he claims isn't regulated in the same way as other meat industries in the country. Mir never pursued the defense, citing a lack of resources.

That's another problem Mir has with USADA. The severity of the consequences for failures coupled with the difficulty of disproving a finding and what he believes are overly sensitive tests creates a situation where the UFC is losing fighters who aren't doing anything wrong.

"I think right now we're losing a lot of fighters. We lost Machida because he forgot to put something on his paperwork, B.J. Penn didn't understand the new testing and took an IV months before the fight, not even a weight cutting situation. So I think we're losing a lot of main event fighters to situations that are not actually cheating.

"I think you see that in a lot of movements. First, you have something that's not enough and then sometimes the response is overboard. I think right now we're in the overboard status of our drug testing policy. I think that eventually, hopefully, it will come back to the middle where the tests are really trying to nail people that are trying to cheat or circumvent the system and not just somebody that happened to drink a protein shake at the local gym that wasn't cleaned out well enough and the last guy put creatine in there or something and now it blows up his test."

Though Mir hasn't had his formal hearing with USADA, all indications seem to be that he will be suspended for two years. And though previously Mir suggested that a suspension from USADA would mean the end to his fighting career, he says he definitely still wants to returning to fighting when he is able to.

"I do. I'm assuming that eventually two years will hit and maybe at that point."

MUST-READ STORIES

RIP. Josh Samman passed away yesterday at the age of 28.

Smart. Michael Bisping challenged Georges St-Pierre to a fight at UFC 206.

Destiny. Dan Henderson says Michael Bisping's destiny "was to win the belt so he can give it to me."

Delay. Jon Jones hearing in front of the Nevada commission has been postponed.

Blessing in disguise. B.J. Penn is out of his fight with Ricardo Lamas.

MEDIA STEW

Cowboy on Conor.

DC announcing his title fight.

TTTHS

LISTEN UP

Heavy Hands.

Press Row.

Mad

TWEETS

And for all the other good he did.

RIP @JoshSamman. Let's remember him for this. pic.twitter.com/23aKulUBtq

— Seán Sheehan (@SeanSheehanBA) October 5, 2016

Bye, Josh. pic.twitter.com/6Wlxj3KLhA

— E. Casey Leydon (@ekc) October 5, 2016

Thanks for buying me that post fight beer and making me feel welcomed into the @ufc
Rest easy dude @JoshSamman

— Lando Vannata (@GroovyLando) October 5, 2016

Rematch.

Defending my belt @Ufc 206 , in the 6! Destiny lol. #runninthruthe6 #andstill #weareaka #downgoesrumble #again ;)

A photo posted by Daniel "DC" Cormier (@dc_mma) on Oct 5, 2016 at 5:23pm PDT

We've got a few offers to step in for BJ.

@arielhelwani HANGMAN vs @RicardoLamasMMA Is the ONLY fight to book at UFC Manila! #HangmanforManila#TeamMMA4LIFE

— Dan Hangman Hooker (@danthehangman) October 5, 2016

I hear the UFC Manila card might need a featherweight contender to face Lamas. Just wanna throw…https://t.co/50G0vAM5WM

— Phillipe Nover (@PhillipeNover) October 5, 2016

And you gotta respect this one.

I'm ready to step up in place of the hall of famer @bjpenndotcom. @RicardoLamasMMA is a beast . I WANT THIS FIGHT!

— Bryan Caraway (@BryanCaraway) October 5, 2016

I hate when people tweet me throwing shade, then I reply with heat, then they delete the tweet. I hate it...#firstworldproblems

— Will Brooks (@TRILLwillbrooks) October 5, 2016

Good for Fedor

Fedor called out Chechen dictator Kadyrov for hosting child MMA fights: "What happened in Grozny is unacceptable & cannot be justified"

— Karim Zidan (@ZidanSports) October 5, 2016

I know the feeling.

I just ate a double cheeseburger and Large fries at 5 Guys. Then walked next door to Krispy Kreme and bought a dozen donuts. Alone. pic.twitter.com/uua1PxxF9H

— Andre Fili (@TouchyFili) October 6, 2016

.@Cowboycerrone's collection of custom gloves keeps growing, and we are going to keep winning.pic.twitter.com/k9MVmrRPEy

— Brandon Gibson (@SixGunGibson) October 6, 2016

Looking forward to this a lot.

Everything will be exactly the same except open palm strikes the head are legal on the ground, coming 2017 #ohshit

A photo posted by Eddie Bravo (@eddiebravo10) on Oct 5, 2016 at 5:32pm PDT

He's gonna make the jump eventually.

I would play with any one of them. @danawhite #manswork

A photo posted by @dillondanis on Oct 5, 2016 at 11:11am PDT

FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Daniel Cormier (18-1-0) vs. Anthony Johnson (22-5-0); UFC 206, December 10.

Rustam Khabilov (20-3-0) vs. Jason Saggo (12-2-0); UFC 206, December 10.

Valerie Letourneau (8-5-0) vs. Poliana Botelho (5-1-0); UFC 206, December 10.

Zach Makovsky (19-7-0) vs. John Moraga (16-5-0); UFC 206, December 10.

Landon Vannata (8-1-0) vs. John Makdessi (14-5-0); UFC 206, December 10.

Olivier Aubin-Mercier (8-2-0) vs. Drew Dober (17-7-0); UFC 206, December 10.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Rest in peace, Josh Samman. You'll be missed.

If you find something you'd like to see in the Morning Report, just hit me up on Twitter @JedKMeshew and let me know about it. Also follow MMAFighting on Instagram and add us on Snapchat at MMA-Fighting because we post dope things and you should enjoy them.