Brock Lesnar notified of failed drug test
The UFC on Friday announced that Brock Lesnar had failed a random drug test given to him by the United States Anti-Doping Agency on June 28, about two weeks before his bout at UFC 200 with Mark Hunt.
The sample wasn’t processed in time in order to remove him from his match against Hunt at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 9. Lesnar won on all three scorecards.
USADA received the results from the lab at UCLA, which is accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency, late on Thursday. The UFC announced the test failure in a release on Friday, though it did not specify the substance for which Lesnar tested positive.
The UFC announced on June 4 that Lesnar, a former heavyweight champion who hadn’t fought since 2011, would return to competition. Lesnar is under contract to the WWE and the UFC needed the WWE’s permission for him to fight at UFC 200.
The UFC and USADA anti-doping rules require four months once a fighter is signed, to allow for sufficient testing, but rule 5.7.1 gives permission for a fighter to be granted a waiver from having to wait four months before competing. On June 9, Lesnar was given a waiver from that four-month requirement because of how late he’d signed.
Lesnar was the first athlete to receive such an exemption.
USADA reportedly tested him five times prior to the bout.
Lesnar has the right to have his B sample tested. If the result is the same, it is considered a violation and he’ll be subject to penalty. However, there is an appeals process, and Lesnar could choose to appeal if the B sample confirms the initial result.
It is similar to the situation that faced Jon Jones prior to UFC 200. Jones was scheduled to fight Daniel Cormier in the show’s main event, but on July 6, three days before the bout, he was yanked when a test from June 16 turned up positive.
Jones requested the B sample be tested and it confirmed the result announced on July 6.
