UFC Middleweight Elias Theodorou Drug Tested While Sleeping In “Free Diaz” Shirt

Male model turned promising UFC middleweight Elias Theodorou is one of many athletes set to fight for the promotion in the next seven days, their most stacked week ever. On Thursday (December 10th), he’ll be fighting Thiago Santos in the main card opener of UFC Fight Night: Namajunas vs. VanZant on UFC Fight Pass. In the course of his media obligations, he did the interview with Bloody Elbow’s Michel Hutchinson that’s embedded above.

The big amusing headline-making moment is that his one out of competition drug test by USADA came at 6:00 a.m. while he was sleeping in a “FREE DIAZ” or “FREE NICK DIAZ” shirt. That’s not necessarily any cause for alarm, as marijuana is not barred outside of competition. Perhaps more interesting in terms of actual consequences is that they tested him early in the morning. The key with many drugs is that they have short windows for testing, so surprise tests in the early morning or middle of the night are crucial. It’s common to take those drugs before bedtime to avoid detection.