Former UFC champion Lyoto Machida has been pulled from his upcoming fight with Dan Henderson after admitting he took a banned substance.
The UFC released the following statement Wednesday.
“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.”
Machida and Henderson were scheduled to meet in the co-headliner of Saturday’s UFC on FOX card in a rematch of a 2013 bout that Machida won by split decision.
“I’m here to tell you that I was caught by surprise by this news,” Machida wrote on his official Facebook page. “It has been very difficult for me. I’ve trained a lot for this fight, I’ve dedicated a lot with all my team mates. I want to tell you that I really didn’t know about this substance, so I listed it on my declaration form amongst everything else I was taking, and this substance was recently banned in 2016, so I take the blame for not knowing that, and I’d like to say I’m really sorry and apologize to my fans, team mates, and my family…I always try to play by the book, but unfortunately this happened.”
According to Machida, the supplement used was called 7-Keto, which contains the substance DHEA, found in products sold at every supplement store and it’s very popular.
Rather than finding a short-notice opponent for Henderson, UFC officials have elected to remove Henderson from the event and “re-booked for a new bout in the near future.” Suffice it to say, Henderson was not happy when he heard the news.
UFC middleweight star Tim Kennedy offered to fill in for Machida.
Machida (22–7) is a former light-heavyweight champion that has been competing in the middleweight division for 2 1/2 years. The 37-year-old Brazilian has been finished in two straight fights and has lost three of his last four overall.
