Lyoto Machida has become yet another fighter in trouble for alleged doping. Machida has been removed from the UFC on Fox 19 card in Tampa, Florida, due to a positive text for banned substances by the United State Anti-Doping Agency last week. The former UFC Lightweight Champion was scheduled to fight in rematch with the former Strikeforce Light-Heavyweight Champion Dan Henderson.
The UFC released an official statement on the website regarding this.
“The UFC organization was made aware today by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), the independent administrator of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, that Lyoto Machida declared the usage of a banned substance during an out-of-competition sample collection last week.
Machida stated that he was unaware that the substance was prohibited both in and out of competition and, in accordance with the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, his disclosure of usage will be taken into consideration by USADA during any potential results management and adjudication process.”
Back in February 2015, the former contender and present UFC Middleweight Champion told CBS Radio’s Gio and Jones, that Machida’s camp Black House has a pattern for having signed fighters that test positive for banned substances.
“I’m not a fan of (cheating), and I definitely am pushing for more drug testing, more random blood testing and whatnot. Especially (within the) Black House camp. There’s been (three or fur guys from that camp who have been caught cheating) and (Lyoto) Machida is a Black House guy.
I think he’s a clean fighter, but I’m definitely pushing (for more testing). I want a clean sport, like baseball. We need to get on their level. Let’s start cleaning things up a little bit here.”
Machida himself, took to Facebook and Instagram to respond to banned substance violation charge
“I’m here to tell you that I was caught by surprise by this news. It has been very dificult for me. I’ve trained a lot for this fight, I’ve dedicated a lot with all my team mates. I want to tell you that I really didn’t know about this substance, so I listed it on my declaration form amongst everything else I was taking, and this substance was recently banned in 2016, so I take the blame for not knowing that, and I’d like to say I’m really sorry and apologize to my fans, team mates, and my family… I always try to play by the book, but unfortunately this happened.”
With no replacement for Machida, Henderson will have to wait for another event at a latter date. Henderson was hoping to redeem his split-decision loss to Machida at UFC 157. Whether the two will fight again remains to be seen.”
Source: (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2632690-lyoto-machida-declares-use-of-banned-drug-dan-henderson-ufc-fight-cancelled?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=programming-league), (https://www.facebook.com/lyotomachidafw/?fref=ts)