Carlos Felipe released from UFC after second doping violation

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight division has said goodbye to one of its younger up-and-coming talents.

MMA Fighting today (Tues., March 8, 2022) confirmed that Brazil’s Carlos Felipe has been released from the promotion following a second positive test for boldenone. Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) hit Felipe with an 18-month suspension after his Oct. 2021 loss to Andrei Arlovski via unanimous decision. Felipe had been dealt a United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) suspension prior to this recent violation, which came after a positive test for stanozolol ahead of his scheduled 2017 UFC debut.

“Boi” was released after his first incident before eventually re-signing. He hopes he can go through the same type of process once again.

“We’ll wait for the suspension to be over so we can compete again, get some wins together and return to UFC,” Felipe’s manager Leonardo Pateira said. “Because UFC has indicated that there’s a chance he’ll be called again after one or two wins. UFC is our only focus, so we’ll do as they say.”

Felipe wouldn’t debut in UFC until 2020 when meeting Sergey Spivak in July of that year. He would suffer his first career defeat via majority decision before rattling off three straight wins. The 27-year-old entered the promotion as a perfect 8-0 and has yet to see one of his fights end by finish in the Octagon — whether that’s with him on the wrong or right side of that outcome.