USADA: Fabricio Werdum suspended two years for steroid

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Photos: Best of Fabricio Werdum

Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum has been suspended for two years.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency on Tuesday announced Werdum’s punishment after an out-of-competition urine test conducted on April 25 revealed the steroid trenbolone and its metabolite epitrenbolone.

Trenbolone, a steroid marketed for veterinary and clinical uses, is a non-specified substance in the class of anabolic agents and prohibited at all times under the UFC’s anti-doping program.

Werdum (23-8-1 MMA, 11-5 UFC), who was set to face Aleksei Oleinik (56-11-1 MMA, 5-2 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 136, called his positive test “a misunderstanding” and said he was working with the UFC and USADA to find the source of the banned substance. A call to his manager, Ali Abdelaziz, wasn’t immediately returned.

Werdum’s suspension is retroactive to May 22, the date he was flagged for a potential anti-doping violation. He will be eligible to fight on May 22, 2020. It’s a devastating setback for the 41-year-old Brazilian, who was knocked out in March by ex-Bellator champ Alexander Volkov.

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Until he ran into Volkov, Werdum was building a case to get another title shot, and it wasn’t always a smooth road. He raised the UFC’s ire after turning down a short-notice fight with Junior Dos Santos at UFC 207 and Alistair Overeem at UFC 208 over financial concerns. Werdum also was fired from a gig as a Spanish-language UFC commentator over an anti-Reebok diatribe. He later met with UFC President Dana White and smoothed things over.

Werdum won the heavyweight title at UFC 188 by submitting Cain Velasquez to unify an interim belt he won with a knockout over Mark Hunt. In his first defense at UFC 198, Werdum was knocked out by Stipe Miocic.

Per the terms of his suspension, Werdum must make himself available to random drug testing.

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