There may be a reason Joe Warren didn’t step in against Marcos Galvao for this month’s Bellator 144 event: he failed a drug test.
According to a report from Jason Floyd at TheMMAReport.com, Warren tested positive for marijuana out of his win over LC Davis at Bellator 143 late last month. Though an official punishment hasn’t been revealed, the regulations for the the Texas Combative Sports Program calls for a 90-day suspension.
Warren’s test results came in with marijuana metabolites at 53ng/dl, with the Texas threshold at just 50ng/dl for a positive test. By contrast, the cutoff under WADA regulations is 150ng/dl.
Penick’s Analysis: Marijuana usage really shouldn’t be tested for in the first place given the problems with the tests available and the half life of the drug in question, but especially so with a cutoff at 50ng/dl. At least with Texas a 90-day suspension is their norm, and Warren won’t be facing anything ridiculous like what happened to Nick Diaz, but this is something that wouldn’t have led to a positive test in most other jurisdictions, which in turn highlights another issue with the lack of uniform regulation on the sport. Regardless, it seems this could be what kept Warren from fighting on Oct. 23.
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