Johannesburg (South Africa) – EFC AFRICA has achieved another first in MMA, by becoming the first African MMA promotion to implement an anti-doping policy.

On 14 April at EFC AFRICA 08, which was sanctioned by SAMMAF (South African Mixed Martial Arts Federation), all championship winners – Garreth McLellan, Costa Ioannou and Adam Speechly – were tested for a comprehensive range of performance-enhancing and recreational drugs including prescription androgenic anabolic steroids, prohormones, designer anabolic steroids, essential masking, anti-estrogen agents, diuretics and stimulants.

Samples were analysed by Quest Diagnostics-Lenexa, one of Drug Detection Internationals (DDI) internationally accredited labs (CLIA-88 and College of American Pathologists certification). DDI is a privately owned company which has a long history of assisting many organizations with the eradication of substance abuse. EFC AFRICA is proud to announce that all three EFC AFRICA athletes tested negative for all banned substances.

“This is another example of how EFC AFRICA is taking African MMA forward, by making it safer for our athletes,” said EFC AFRICA president Cairo Howarth.

“We are proud of our drug-free champions. Going forward, we will extend testing to include all our athletes, to further standardise and legitimise the sport.”