ANDERSON SILVA, ONE of the most celebrated names in the UFC, has been suspended following an out of competition doping test.
The UFC announced on Friday night that there was a potential violation in the test conducted by the US Anti-Doping Agency last month and that the Brazilian has been provisionally suspended.
Silva, 42, was due to return to the Octagon on 25 November in Shanghai to headline the organisation’s first-ever Chinese card against Kelvin Gastelum.
“Due to the proximity of Silva’s upcoming scheduled bout…, Silva has been removed from the card and UFC is currently seeking a replacement,” the organisation said in a brief statement.
It added: ”Under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, there is a full and fair legal process that is afforded to all athletes before any sanctions are imposed.”
Silva previously held the record for most consecutive UFC title defences – 10 – which was broken by Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson in October, and has widely been hailed as the greatest mixed martial artist of all time.
However his legacy has been tarnished by a one-year doping suspension which he served after testing positive for drostanolone and androsterone in 2015, which Silva blamed on a ‘sexual enhancement supplement’.
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Imagine McGregor answering a knock on his door this morning and there’s a lad standing there in a lab coat with a sample cup in his hand
@David Garland: he’d be fine. He’s not scheduled to compete so they’d only be tearing for performance enhancing drugs out of competition… only during competition do they test for recreational drugs..
There were a load of comments here that are now deleted. Did someone say something they shouldnt have?
@NiallKelly . Why did you delete my question? Free speech…
Free speech isnt a law in ireland, up until recently blasphemy was illegal here, so those two concepts dont exactly go hand in hand. I just think it’s interesting that what people said under this article is the exact same that they were saying under the article about McGregor slapping an official. (unless more comments were added that i didnt see and the42 decided to delete them all)
@Rudiger McMonihan: I’d like to get the author’s opinion on why it is ‘illegal’ on here to ask a question about drugs on an article about drugs.