Junior Dos Santos hasn’t been inside a UFC octagon since he dropped a title fight to Stipe Miocic at UFC 211. He was scheduled to fight Francis Ngannou in the fall but a USADA violation derailed his career for nearly 9 months.
Following a lengthy investigation, USADA cleared JDS and two other fighters of having intentionally taken banned substances. Last month, JDS, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Marcos Rogerio de Lima were all cleared after tainted supplements were discovered from a compounding pharmacy in Brazil. Each fighter accepted a 6-month suspension. The news meant JDS was free to resume his MMA career immediately. He released the following statement after the decision was announced.
“I’m relieved that this nightmare is finally over and that we were able to determine what happened and where the prohibited substance found in my sample came from,” dos Santos said in a statement. “Like I’ve always said, I’m a clean athlete. The most important thing now is that I can go back to earning my livelihood. I want to get back inside the Octagon as quickly as possible. Back to business.”
JDS: Last Year of My Life Was A Nightmare
“This last year was a nightmare for me, because man, I never imagine I could go through something like that in my career,” -Junior Dos Santos
While he would eventually be cleared of any intentional use of PEDs, the investigation into the matter extended nearly 9 months. It also cost JDS a fight against the top-ranked, Francis Ngannou, and a chance to get back into the UFC heavyweight title picture.
“I feel the truth was found and everybody knows that was a tainted supplement,” dos Santos told MMA Fighting. “It wasn’t my fault, it wasn’t my intention. There’s always negative people, that they keep saying bad things about you. They hold on the negative things. But I feel like I got my reputation back. It’s very, very important to me.”
Dos Santos continued to say he was not pleased with how USADA handled his case. He noted that once a fighter has failed a test, the current system sees them as guilty until proven innocent. JDS believes USADA needs to make changes to prevent clean fighters from having to deal with such lengthy investigations.
“I hope they do some change because it doesn’t make any sense. On me, they only found a very small amount of diuretic, which is not drug, not PED,” dos Santos told CBS Sports. “The diuretic they found on me, I did some research on hydrocholorothiazide and that diuretic would not be effective.”
JDS is scheduled to face Blagoy Ivanov at UFC Fight Night 133 on July 14th, 2018.
