FORMER ULTIMATE FIGHTING Championship middleweight champion and mixed martial arts legend Anderson Silva has received a one-year suspension.
Silva has also been fined $380,000 as a result of positive drug tests relating to his UFC 183 win against Nick Diaz back in January, which has now been declared a ‘no contest’.
The 40-year-old Brazilian appeared before a Nevada Athletic Commission disciplinary hearing this evening in Las Vegas, where the punishment was handed down.
Silva had been serving an indefinite suspension since the results of his positive tests emerged, and this one-year ban will be back-dated to the day of the bout — 31 January.
The NAC voted unanimously in favour of suspending Silva for 12 months. Additionally, he was fined 30% of his $600,000 fight purse and must also surrender his entire $200,000 win bonus.
Silva twice tested positive for drostanolone metabolites ahead of his clash with Diaz — in an out-of-competition blood test on 9 January and again in a urine test on fight night.
He also tested positive for a second anabolic steroid — androstane — in the 9 January test, as well as temazepam (commonly known as a sleeping aid) and oxazepam (often used as anti-anxiety medication), which are prohibited for in-competition use by the NAC without a therapeutic use exemption.
The NAC rejected Silva’s defence — part of which claimed that his tests were tainted by medication he had been taking to enhance his sexual performance — and suspended the fighter until 31 January, 2016.
