Joseph Duffy has claimed that UFC’s USADA anti-doping program was one of the driving forces behind him re-signing for the promotion.

MMAFighting.com first reported the news that Duffy had re-signed with the UFC last week, on a seven-fight contract.

Speaking on the latest episode of The MMA Hour, Duffy claimed that UFC’s anti-doping program was something that was “very important” to him as he was forced to choose between Bellator and UFC.

“I spoke to Bellator myself,” Duffy told Ariel Helwani.

“It was more of a flat rate offer. I just felt good about the UFC offer. There wasn’t much difference between them, but I just feel that the UFC is the place for me right now.

“Obviously, with the USADA program (at UFC) too, that’s something that’s very important to me. That’s something I’m really for. All of these factors came into play, but I feel like the offer I got from the UFC was very good.”

Duffy has been sidelined since March when he entered free agency following his one-sided win over Reza Madadi. With his new deal in hand, the Tristar fighter is looking to be as active as possible.

“I’m just looking forward to getting busy now. For the last while, I’ve just been really honing my skills. I took a bit of time to make sure that I’ve been getting up to speed, but now it’s time to get to work.

“That’s one of the reasons I signed the seven-fight deal. If I signed for the seven fights I can get a little bit more active. I want to get at least three fights a year and just blast into it.”

According to Duffy, he was offered both a four-fight and seven-fight contract with UFC but decided to go with the longer deal.

“That was another decision I had to make,” he said. “I got offered two different deals, a four-fight, and a seven-fight [contract]. Again, it was something that I really had to sit down and think about.

“With the position I’m in now, as I said, I want to get active and that’s one of the reasons that the seven-fight deal was more to my liking.

“I’m up there now, I’m 29, I’m at the age where I need to start making my mark.”

Duffy also highlighted that there would have been more money “guaranteed” had he signed with Bellator due to the flat rate they offered, but he could potentially make more with the UFC due to the win bonuses that are in place on his contract.

“It was a flat rate, I guess you could say it was better because you’re guaranteed more money. With the UFC, it’s different obviously because you’ve got the win bonus. If you include the win bonus, (Bellator’s offer) wasn’t (as good as UFC’s), but it was more guaranteed money.”

Duffy also revealed that ONE FC and ACB were interested in gaining his services, but Graham Boylan, his manager, advised him to go with Bellator or UFC.

“I know Graham was talking to ONE FC as well. I know there were talks with ACB also. I spoke to them myself. My management advised me to choose between UFC and Bellator. Those were the players they were looking at.”