On Thursday, the United States Anti-Doping Agency and the UFC announced several significant changes to the company’s anti-doping policy.

The changes, which come into effect on April 1st, will make things more difficult for retired fighters to return from competition, whilst simultaneously making things easier for new fighters or ones who are returning to the UFC after being cut.

Retired fighters will now be required to enter the USADA testing pool six months before they are eligible to return to competition, previously they were only required to enter the testing pool four months before returning.

Meanwhile new fighters will only be subject to a one month testing period before being allowed to compete, and the UFC reserves the right to waive that one month period if a fighter is “named to a fight card as a replacement for an athlete who was withdrawn from the fight card due to loss of eligibility, injury or other event not reasonably foreseeable to UFC.”

USADA also changed their definition of “in-competition” drug testing. “in-competition” is now defined as “the period commencing at noon on the day prior to the scheduled start of the fight card on which a bout is contested and ending upon the completion of the post-bout sample or specimen collection.” If a sample has not been collected within an hour of the fighter receiving post-fight medical clearance, “then the in-competition period shall expire at that time.”

In a statement to MMAjunkie.com, USADA spokesperson Ryan Madden said “The policy updates announced today are a direct reflection of our experiences, and the feedback we’ve received – from both athletes and the UFC – all of which we believe will give further confidence to competitors that they can step into the Octagon, compete clean and win,”

A full copy of the updated policy is available here, and a summary of the changes is available here.