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When Dana White was asked about the Yair Rodriguez vs. Zabit Magomedsharipov bout being cancelled again, the UFC President gave a cryptic answer that left the fans confused.
"I don't think he's going to fight soon," Dana White said about Yair Rodriguez. Turns out, the issue was not injury or health related, or even about a failed drug test.
According to Marc Raimondi, the Mexican Featherweight has been suspended by USADA over a whereabouts violation.
Yair Rodriguez suspended by USADA till March
Yair Rodriguez has not failed a drug test, but he has failed to turn up for sample collection on three different occasions over a period of 12 months.
As per rules regarding whereabouts violations, USADA handed Yair Rodriguez a six-month suspension.
Brett Okamoto soon added that the suspension runs back to September 8, 2020, which makes Yair Rodriguez available for his next MMA bout in March 2021.
USADA released a statement on the matter:
Like all UFC athletes, Rodriguez, 28, is a member of the UFC Registered Testing Pool and is therefore subject to certain Whereabouts responsibilities, which allow him to be located for testing. Accurate Whereabouts information is a crucial component of an effective out-of-competition testing program because it enables anti-doping organizations to conduct no-notice sample collections, which helps maintain effective doping deterrence and detection.
Rodriguez failed to update his Whereabouts information and was unavailable for testing at locations provided in his Whereabouts Filings on three occasions. He accrued a Whereabouts Failure in each of the first three quarters of 2020. The accumulation of three Whereabouts Failures within a 12-month period constitutes a policy violation under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy.
However, USADA also added that Rodriguez was eligible for a sentence reduction because his conduct was not suspicious to the USADA officials in respect of whether he was trying to avoid being tested or hide usage of any banned substance.
Dana White on Yair Rodriguez
Taking questions at the UFC Vegas 15 post-fight conference, Dana White was asked about Yair Rodriguez's current status and why his fight with Zabit Magomedsharipov has once again been cancelled.
Dana White asked an associate off-camera whether UFC has publicly talked about the matter, and why not.
"We didn’t announce it, I don’t know why we didn’t but yeah, I don’t know what the deal is,” White said cryptically. “It’s none of my business what’s going on there. So when it comes out, it comes out. It’s none of our business, none of the UFC’s business. When they figure it out they’ll let us know."
His words seemed confusing at the time, but now it makes sense that Rodriguez will be out of the octagon for a considerable period of time.
