Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum will not be able to step foot inside the Octagon until 2020. That’s because United States Anti Doping Agency (USADA) has suspended “Vai Cavalo” for a period of two years for failing an out-of-competition drug test earlier this year.
Indeed, Werdum tested hot for the anabolic steroid trenbolone and its metabolite epitrenbolone from samples collected during a test in April, which forced him out of his 265-pound showdown against Alexey Oleynik. That bout was set to headline this weekend’s (Sat., Sept. 15, 2018) UFC Fight Night 136 event in Moscow, Russia.
From USADA findings:
USADA announced today that UFC® athlete Fabricio Werdum, of Redondo Beach, Calif., has tested positive for a prohibited substance and received a two-year sanction for his anti-doping policy violation. Werdum, 41, tested positive for trenbolone and its metabolite epitrenbolone following an out-of-competition urine test conducted on April 25, 2018. Trenbolone is a non-Specified Substance in the class of Anabolic Agents and prohibited at all times under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List. Werdum’s two-year period of ineligibility, the standard sanction for a first offense involving a non-Specified Substance, began on May 22, 2018, the date his provisional suspension was imposed.
So much for just a misunderstanding.
The blow is a crucial one for the former 265-pound kingpin, as he will be 43 years old when he is eligible to return to action in may of 2020, and the heavyweight landscape will undoubtedly look different when he mounts his comeback.
The punishment was handed down in a matter of five months following his failed drug test. And seeing as how Jon Jones — who failed his latest drug test back in July of 2017 — still hasn’t heard nothing back from USADA regarding his fighting future, I’d say that’s a pretty quick turnaround.
Werdum’s last taste of action saw him get knocked out by Alexander Volkov in the fourth round of UFC Fight Night 127 this past March.