A year ago it's highly doubtful that Cung Le ever fails a drug test for HGH in the UFC. Of all the banned substances and testing procedures out there to catch them, human growth hormone is one of the most difficult to bust. As Dave Meltzer noted in a recent edition of the Wrestling Observer, "the belief among athletes is that almost nobody ever tests positive for Growth Hormone, and when it happens, it's usually a set up or a tip off." That is to say that when an athlete gets busted for HGH it's usually because someone who knows he's using has informed testers and they've ordered a specific test to catch them. Considering that, in the past, you've had to test a user within 24 hours of taking HGH, the chances even then, of catching them, are very slim.

Classic problems with detection and inaccuracies in testing have Cung Le already calling into question the results of his failed test. He released the following statement to MMA Junkie:

"I was completed surprised at the results of my recent drug test," Le's statement reads. "I was informed by the UFC that I passed my pre- and post-fight drug test, as well as the majority of the blood tests with the only abnormality being an elevated level of hGH being determined to be present. I tested negative for anabolics, stimulants, diuretics, masking agents and my testosterone levels were within World Anti-

Doping Agency and Nevada State Athletic Commission Approved limits a total of three times over two urine tests and a blood test collected both before and after my fight, which is what makes these hGH result so difficult for me to accept as correct. This has also caused me to call the testing procedures into question. I have been informed that there are many possible reasons for a level of hGH to exceed what is allowed unknowingly and my doctors are researching those possibilities, which may include a much more serious health concern. I have also been informed about the unreliability of the current hGH testing that exists and it's high rate of inaccuracy. I want to reiterate to my fans and the fans of mixed martial arts everywhere that I did not take any performance-enhancing drugs or anything that would cause my natural level of hGH to exceed normal levels. "

It's a stance that may speak, in part, to the disbelief that without any foreknowledge on behalf of the commission (or in this case the UFC) and in a planned test that the fighter knew to expect ahead of time, there should be practically zero chance of Le testing positive. At least that's how it was classically. Again, Meltzer addresses the potential that Le's positive test has to change the PED use landscape in MMA:

In Le's case, this was not, like every other case, being caught by a random test. Le knew full well he would be tested on 8/23 after his fight. Perhaps he knew, and figured it was HGH and he'd pass anyway. Perhaps he really did take a shot right before he went to the arena. Perhaps it was a shot within a day or two and the testing has gotten better. But this was the first example of a guy that I'm aware of failing a test he knew about at the time he knew he was going to be tested.

The explanation as to how, or why this might have been possible may lie in a report published back in February about an impending potential breakthrough in HGH testing. Mass-spectrometry biomarkers testing, using a technique known as liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, essentially looks to identify the concentration of proteins produced by growth hormone in serum. The expected results of the process is that HGH would become detectable even weeks after use, with greatly increased precision in the results.

WADA has since released a statement that they have been following the development of mass-spectrometry biomarkers testing and were in the process of validating them. That was back in March. If this is indeed a process they have continued to follow up on and implement, the UFC's adherence to WADA standards may make Cung Le one of the first athletes to find himself publicly on the receiving end of a failed test, using new and improved standards of HGH detection.

UPDATE: Cung Le's manager, Gary Ibarra, reached out to Bloody Elbow, following the publication of this article, in order to confirm that mass-spectrometry biomarker testing was not performed by the UFC. And that after being notified of the test failure, Cung Le's camp was informed that his blood sample had been destroyed and that additional testing would not be possible.