Lyoto Machida has been pulled from Saturday’s UFC on Fox 19 event after disclosing use of a banned substance during an out of competition test last week.
The UFC made the announcement Wednesday evening, with Dan Henderson being pulled from the card as well.
Though the substance in question has not been revealed, the UFC’s statement on the matter claimed that Machida did not know it was banned both in and out of competition, but his disclosure led them to pull him from this Saturday’s card as he faces disciplinary action from USADA under the anti-doping policy.
Here’s the UFC’s statement:
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.
Given this information, UFC officials have elected to remove Machida from his scheduled bout against Dan Henderson this Saturday in Tampa, Fla. Henderson will be re-booked for a new bout in the near future.
With that bout off the card, the UFC has pulled the Cub Swanson vs. Hacran Dias bout to the main card. The event will be headlined by the light heavyweight bout between Rashad Evans and Glover Teixeira from Tampa, Fla.
Penick’s Analysis: Without knowing the substance in question it’s hard to comment on the Machida aspect of this, but the UFC taking the step to actually pull him before the fight is certainly in line with taking the policy seriously. Scrapping fights on cards due to failed tests has been rare, and the UFC doesn’t like having fights fall out as it is. Still, if he admitted to using a banned substance – even if he didn’t know it was banned – this was the only move for them to make.
[Photo (c) Joe Camporeale via USA Today Sports]
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