THE SCHEDULED BOUT between Junior Dos Santos and Francis Ngannou has been removed from the card for UFC 215.
UFC officials are now searching for a new opponent for Ngannou for the 9 September bill, after revealing that Dos Santos has been flagged for a potential anti-doping violation by the United States Anti-Doping Agency [USADA].
According to a statement released to MMAFighting.com by Dos Santos’ manager, the 33-year-old Brazilian “tested positive for a substance called hydrochlorothiazite, which is a diuretic and is banned by USADA due to its use as a masking agent. We do not know where this substance came from. Junior has had his blood and urine randomly tested many times and has never once tested positive for a banned substance.”
Ana Guedes added: “What we know as of now is that Junior Dos Santos has never taken PEDs [performance-enhancing drugs], has never knowingly used any banned substances, and has always supported USADA’s policies and efforts to keep the sport clean.
“If ever there was a fighter who made his position on this issue unequivocal, it’s Junior. We are confident that that we will be able to figure out what happened, and will provide an explanation once we have one.”
Any potential sanction for Dos Santos as a result of the test, which was administered on 10 August, won’t be determined until a formal hearing takes place.
Dos Santos (18-5) spent 13 months as the UFC’s heavyweight champion when he dethroned Cain Velasquez back in 2011, before losing the title in a rematch.
His last bout resulted in a first-round TKO defeat to current champion Stipe Miocic in May.
