Former heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum has been suspended for two years by USADA after a violation of the UFC’s anti-doping policy.
USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency), who oversees the UFC’s anti-doping program, announced the news on Tuesday.
“Werdum, 41, tested positive for trenbolone and its metabolite epitrenbolone following an out-of-competition urine test conducted on April 25, 2018,” USADA officials wrote in a statement. “Trenbolone is a non-Specified Substance in the class of Anabolic Agents and prohibited at all times under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List.
“Werdum’s two-year period of ineligibility, the standard sanction for a first offense involving a non-Specified Substance, began on May 22, 2018, the date his provisional suspension was imposed.”
Trenbolone is an anabolic steroid that came to prominence after it was used as part of a cocktail of banned substances allegedly administered to Russian athletes ahead of the 2014 Olympic games.
Werdum had previously commented on his positive drug test after USADA originally flagged his test, which cost him a fight against Alexei Oleinik at this weekend’s UFC card in Russia.
“I am working with my team, the UFC and USADA to understand what happened,” Werdum wrote on Instagram. “I’ve always been careful with everything I take and I’ve always supported a clean sport. We will work hard to solve this misunderstanding and I hope soon to be able to go back to the Octagon and do what I love.”
Now Werdum will be sidelined for the next two years as a result of the positive drug test.
Werdum won’t be eligible to return until after May 2020 when he will be 43 years old.
