Even though Josh Barnett stated that his failed drug test was not a random test, California State Athletic Commision executive officer Bill Douglas says otherwise.

According to Douglas, Barnett was the first athlete to be tested under California’s new testing regulations.

Did Fedor Emelianenko have to take a similar test?
No, he did not. It was just a random selection.

How does the random selection process? How do you come to the decision that a particular fighter is going to be tested?
Well, in some cases it’s a random selection truthfully. I mean, just whomever the staff member will decide to select, and in some cases if there’s prior history, that is also a flag, it is. Especially in the case of athletes that may have a previous violation, as recognized by another athletic commission, it allows us that opportunity to test that individual and require a clean test prior to renewal of a license.

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Will anyone else be randomly tested for this particular event?
Potentially, but definitely for other upcoming events. … Because in terms of the Barnett test, even though the rules had passed in the earlier part of this year, allowing a test of this nature to occur, California was truly breaking new ground here even though Nevada has done similar testing for quite some time, this is the first time it had ever been done in California. So we really didn’t know what it was going to be like, or how it was going to work out. Particularly in the case of, where you’re randomly calling someone up and you say, ‘You have x amount of hours to appear for this test, or x amount of days,’ because literally that phone call can come at any time. So it was almost a trial, so to speak, to see what the process was going to be like moving forward so we can learn from this. And it just so happens that the first one we’ve ever done here in California produced a result.

This is the first one ever?
First one ever. I mean, right out of the gate.

You can read the full interview with Bill Douglas here.