A startling development originated in the UFC today as former Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida admitted using a banned substance and was summarily removed from Saturday’s UFC event in Florida.
The 37-year-old was scheduled to rematch Dan Henderson on the UFC on Fox 19 card but was nixed after tests revealed the presence of a banned hormone named ‘DHEA’, apparently ingested through a supplement called ‘7-Keto’. Machida claimed he was uninformed of the fact that it is a banned substance, though it is listed as such by the United States Anti-Doping Agency.
The UFC made the following statement, courtesy of entimports.com:
“The UFC organization was made aware today by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), the independent administrator of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, that Lyoto Machida declared the usage of a banned substance during an out-of-competition sample collection last week.
“Machida stated that he was unaware that the substance was prohibited both in and out of competition and, in accordance with the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, his disclosure of usage will be taken into consideration by USADA during any potential results management and adjudication process.”
A repentant Machida took to social media to admit his mistake:
“I'm here to tell you that I was caught by surprise by this news. It has been very difficult for me. I've trained a lot for this fight. I've dedicated a lot of with all my teammates. I want to tell you that I really didn't know about this substance, so I listed it on my declaration form amongst everything else I was taking.
“This substance was recently banned in 2016, so I take the blame for not knowing that. I'd like to say I'm really sorry and apologize to my fans, teammates and my family. I always try to play by the book, but unfortunately, this happened.”
Machida’s last minute removal has left MMA veteran Dan Henderson without an opponent and the revered fighter didn’t mince words when reacting to the news:
