UFC’s Silva, Diaz, Lombard get temporary suspensions
Three prominent Ultimate Fighting Championship competitors who failed drug tests were placed on temporary suspension during a Nevada Athletic Commission meeting Tuesday.
The day’s biggest news in terms of testing, however, came outside the formal meeting at the Grant Sawyer Building in Las Vegas.
Anderson Silva, Nick Diaz and Hector Lombard were placed on temporary suspension by unanimous vote of the five-member commission in what is largely a procedural matter. Almost without exception in these cases, the commission grants a temporary suspension and places the fighter’s full disciplinary hearing on the agenda for a future meeting.
Lombard tested positive for an anabolic steroid after a win over Josh Burkman on Jan. 3.
Silva defeated Diaz in the main event of UFC 183 on Jan. 31. Diaz’s postfight drug screening came back positive for marijuana metabolites.
Silva’s issues with the commission stemmed from an out-of-competition test administered Jan. 9 that revealed two steroids in his system.
Things got worse for the former middleweight champion Tuesday, as commission sources confirmed that Silva’s fight-night drug test also came back positive for a steroid and two other drugs, though the results were not mentioned during the quick discussion on his temporary suspension.
The 39-year-old Brazilian tested positive for the steroid drostanolone on the night of the fight, which was also one of the steroids in his system on the Jan. 9 test.
His fight-night test also came back positive for Oxazepam and Temazepam, prescriptions that are used to treat anxiety and sleep deprivation, respectively.
Commission officials said Silva did not indicate he was taking either medication on his prefight medical questionnaire.
NAC executive director Bob Bennett said Silva’s camp has inquired about having the ‘B’ samples tested, but has not formally requested the commission to do so.
A test administered to Silva on Jan. 19 was clean.
One UFC fighter did have a full disciplinary hearing Tuesday, but UFC women’s bantamweight competitor Ashlee Evans-Smith did not appear in-person or on the phone and did not have a representative present.
Evans-Smith tested positive for a diuretic after a submission loss to Raquel Pennington at UFC 181 on Dec. 6. She received a nine-month suspension and was fined $2,400, which was 30 percent of her $8,000 purse.
She also will be required to submit to a clean drug test before returning to competition.
The other notable mixed martial arts item on the agenda was a request by Francisco Rivera to have his loss to Urijah Faber overturned to a no contest.
Faber submitted Rivera at UFC 181 just moments after poking Rivera in the eye. Referee Mario Yamasaki never saw the poke and therefore was unable to go to instant replay, which is used in only specific situations.
The commission took no action on the matter, as all seemed to be in agreement that it lacked the ability to change the result based on the commission’s current rules. The discussion did open the possibility that the commission will act to expand the scope of instant replay.
“Now that there is a significant number of (eye pokes) happening in MMA, we’ve got to figure out how to respond,” NAC chairman Francisco Aguilar said.
UFC executives will hold a news conference today to address the recent wave of failed drug tests. Bennett said he thinks the organization is serious about cleaning up the sport.
“I can tell you they’re staunch supporters of addressing performance-enhancing drugs,” Bennett said, “and I’m glad they are because they’ve financed a number of our tests of even their top-of-the-line fighters that we’ve conducted. It says a lot about the UFC. Here they are having us test those guys and some pop positive. We’re not really happy about it, and neither are they. It’s not good business for them, they lose money. But they continue to go after any and all fighters using PEDs.”
The news conference at Red Rock Resort is closed to the public but will be streamed live at ufc.com.
Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.
