The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) released a statement on Saturday (NZ time) saying the American, who beat Hunt by unanimous decision at UFC 200 last Sunday, has potentially breached anti-doping rules.
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According to UFC and various media reports, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) informed Lesnar on Friday that he had committed a possible Anti-Doping Policy violation, stemming from a test sample he submitted June 28.
The UFC noted that Lesnar will have a legal review process before sanctions are imposed by the promotion or the Nevada Athletic Commission, which has jurisdiction because the out-of-competition test was performed close to UFC 200. It is the first time in his UFC career that he has tested positive for a banned substance.
Brock Lesnar has been flagged for a potential anti-doping violation by USADA just a week after he defeated Mark Hunt at UFC 200 on his return to the UFC.
Given the leniency the UFC and USADA provided Lesnar in the lead up to UFC 200, this would be a disastrous result for the UFC.
Lesnar, in a statement to the Associated Press via ESPN, said “we will get to the bottom of this”.
“Lesnar was handed an exemption from a USADA policy which dictates that athletes returning from retirement must give four months” notice so as to begin testing before they compete.
It was Lesnar’s first time in the Octagon in almost five years.
Hunt told Fox Sports Australia before their fight that he believed Lesnar was “juiced to the gills”.
A professional wrestler, Lesnar remains under contract with WWE.
“I’ve been dealing with that my entire life”, he said of the allegations, per MMAFighting.com’s Marc Raimondi. WWE also suspended Roman Reigns for an unknown wellness violation.
“I can also confirm that the results from his previous samples collected by USADA were all reported as negative”.
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Lesnar is scheduled to wrestle for the WWE at the SummerSlam card on August 21 in Brooklyn, New York and it is not known how this will affect his status for this show.
