Junior dos Santos has spoken on what his past issue with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) was about.
Last year, dos Santos was supposed to meet Francis Ngannou at UFC 215. Those plans went awry when “Cigano” was flagged by USADA stemming from an out-of-competition sample. After an investigation, USADA determined that the “compounding pharmacies” in Brazil did indeed provide dos Santos with contaminated substances. The former UFC heavyweight champion was cleared to return to action.
Speaking to MMAJunkie.com, dos Santos spoke on his disappointment with USADA not being able to determine contaminated substances during initial testing:
“A friend of ours mentioned that it was a tainted supplement. And I remember I made a comment like, ‘Was it, really? Because if he hadn’t taken anything, he wouldn’t have been caught.’ I thought, with USADA’s experience and their understanding, that they would be able to say what was a contamination and what wasn’t. Not just because of the substance, but the amount, as well. But that’s not how it happened.”
On July 14, dos Santos will compete inside the Octagon for the first time since May 2017. He’ll go one-on-one with former World Series of Fighting heavyweight champion Blagoy Ivanov. The bout will headline UFC Boise inside the CenturyLink Arena in Boise, Idaho.
The last time dos Santos was in action, he challenged UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic. It didn’t take long for Miocic to find the chin of dos Santos and he earned a first-round TKO victory. At the moment, dos Santos is the seventh ranked UFC heavyweight and a loss to Ivanov would surely see him slide down significantly. It may also lead to fans calling for his retirement. MMA News will have live coverage of UFC Boise.
Do you think Junior dos Santos has a point about USADA needing better ways to detect tainted supplements?
