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Mendes (right) lost to Conor McGregor at UFC 189. AP/Press Association Images

UFC star Chad Mendes hit with 2-year suspension for doping

The former featherweight title challenger won’t be able to compete in the UFC again until June 2018.

CHAD MENDES HAS become the latest victim of the UFC’s tougher stance on performance-enhancing drugs.

Mendes, who was knocked out by Irish fighter Conor McGregor in an interim featherweight title bout in July of last year, has been handed a two-year suspension for testing positive for a banned substance.

USADA [United States Anti-Doping Agency], which has been overseeing the UFC’s anti-doping programme since last year, announced on 10 June that Mendes had been flagged for “a potential Anti-Doping Policy violation stemming from an out-of-competition sample collection”.

Having conducted a full adjudication, USADA said in a statement released this afternoon that Mendes will be banned for two years for testing positive “for GHRP-6 [growth hormone-releasing hexapeptide] following an out-of-competition urine test conducted on 17 May.

“GHRP-6 is a prohibited substance in the class of peptide hormones, growth factors, related substances and mimetics under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.

“Growth hormone-releasing peptides are listed as Non-Specified Substances on the WADA Prohibited List. Under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, the standard sanction for an anti-doping policy violation involving a Non-Specified Substance is a two-year period of ineligibility.”

The ban will be back-dated to 10 June — the date Mendes received a provisional suspension — meaning the 31-year-old will be out of action until at least June 2018.

Mendes, an elite wrestler with a professional MMA record of 17-4, hasn’t fought since a first-round KO loss against Frankie Edgar back in December.

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Author
Paul Dollery
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