According to UFC commentator Joe Rogan, and even UFC president Dana White, marijuana use within UFC fighters is extremely common.

The prevalent use of marijuana is not unique to MMA fighters. Various other professional athletes also use. It is speculated that as much as 60% of NFL players regularly smoke marijuana.  It is used for enjoyment but also as treatment for the aches and bruises caused by professional sports.

So where does this leave the UFC fighters?

On his latest podcast episode #683, Joe Rogan’s guest was Ethan Nadelmann, the founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a New York City-based non-profit organization working to end the War on Drugs.

Rogan talked about the issue:

“A tremendous amount of UFC fighters smoke pot… I mean, a MASSIVE amount. It’s a huge issue for them involving drug tests, they have to stop smoking weed for the last 4 weeks or so.”

UFC president Dana White also says the same as Rogan. In fact he believes that more UFC fighters smoke Marijuana than take PEDs. In this interview, the UFC president estimates the number to be over 3/4 of fighters:

“Everybody thinks that if you did this random testing you’d catch so many guys on PEDs. No, you’d catch more of the guys on marijuana. That’s where you’d really bust a lot of guys. So [we’ve got] 475 guys under contract and 400 of them would be out with marijuana [suspensions].
“Forget about PEDs. If we get into this random testing you guys are talking about, you know how many guys would probably test positive for marijuana? It would probably be off the charts.”