Tim Kennedy requests enhanced drug testing ahead of UFC 178 fight, all future fights

The agreed-upon fight at UFC 178 between middleweights Tim Kennedy and Yoel Romero may be coming with an interesting provision, at least if Kennedy has his way.

The 18-4 U.S. Army Sergeant has won four consecutive fights to shoot himself up the middleweight rankings, but a moral issue with an under-discussed area of the sport has him making demands for future fights. That is, Kennedy isn't going to fight without drug tests.

Kennedy asked for his next fight to be in Nevada - UFC 178 is in Las Vegas - which has ramped up testing protocol for UFC events of late. He's also suggested he'll sacrifice purse to pay for his share of the testing program, which can cost as much as $35,000.

“Whatever it takes to ensure we are moving toward having a clean sport, which we are nowhere near right now,” Kennedy told ESPN.com. “Something has to change.”

Nevada's athletic commission utilizes unannounced blood and urine tests during pre-fight camps, whereas some states still just do urine testing on the night of a fight. Currently, they're only committed to randomly testing one bout for each major card, and they aren't going to go ahead and announce if more tests are coming considering that surprise is a key element in detecting abuse.

With several big name middleweights testing positive of late, Kennedy feels a responsibility to push for stricter testing.

“They randomly test three dudes and all three fail,” he said. “All in my weight class. All dudes I could potentially be fighting. I went from just being vocal about drug use, to saying to myself, ‘I have to make a stand about this.’”

He later added that he believes "60 or 70 percent" of fighters could be using performance enhancers.

The timing of Kennedy's request is somewhat unfortunate for Romero, who at 8-1 has never once tested positive. This has nothing to do with Romero and everything to do with the system and the sport, but you'd forgive Romero for being a little annoyed that his name will be attached to the public request.