UPDATE: Chael Sonnen has announced his retirement from MMA
Chael Sonnen will not compete at UFC 175 after failing a drug test.
Sonnen tested positive for banned substances Anastrozole and Clomiphene in a random drug screening performed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) last month in Las Vegas.
“UFC officials acknowledge irregularities in a recent random test. Chael is planning on addressing the matter this afternoon,” the organization said in a statement released to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto who broke the news.
The 37-year-old was originally slated to fight Wanderlei Silva in an anticipated grudge match at the July 5 event, but Silva was removed from the card when he refused to take a random NSAC drug test. Silva was then replaced by Vitor Belfort who ironically recently admitted to failing a test in February for high levels of testosterone. It’s unknown at this time whether the UFC plans on keeping Belfort on the card; Belfort has a licensing hearing with the NSAC June 17.
Sonnen (28-14-1) is facing a probable suspension from the NSAC and is expected to file an appeal. Sonnen was suspended by the NSAC for six months in 2011 after testing positive for a high testosterone/epitestosterone ratio following his UFC 117 loss to Anderson Silva.
The West Linn, Ore., native had been prescribed testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) since 2008 when he was diagnosed with hypogonadism. However, he stopped taking the treatment earlier this year when the NSAC modified their TRT regulations.
“When they changed the rule, we all had to go through a transition phase,” Sonnen told Jay Mohr on FOX Sports Radio Tuesday afternoon. “For me, for the transition, you have to take a couple of things – one is called Clomiphene the other one is called hCG [human chorionic gonadotropin] – so this is what we did. They did a test. I tested positive for these things, which I should have. I took them. They were in my system. That wasn’t a surprise. These aren’t anabolics, these aren’t steroids, these aren’t performance enhancers, none of that stuff, but they have deemed that they’re banned substances.”
Anastrozole and Clomiphene are both banned under the World Anti-Doping Agency and both substances act to reduce estrogen.
“What’s interesting in my case is we’re out of competition. These aren’t things that I showed up with on game day. This is out of competition due to a rule they changed, so this is kind of an odd spot for me,” Sonnen explained. “These were not secrets that I took these substances. This is what you have to take when you’re coming of testosterone.
“The confusing part is that for a non-anabolic, non-steroid, non-performance-enhancing agent that is perfectly legal and that I need for a healthy life, essentially they’re saying, ‘look, you’ve got to choose between health and sport.’ It’s very tough for me too because I was very up front about his; I did a number of interviews talking about what I’ve done [after TRT].”
The three-time UFC title challenger holds notable UFC wins over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Michael Bisping, Brian Stann, Nate Marquardt and Yushin Okami.
A middleweight title fight between Lyoto Machida and Chris Weidman headlines UFC 175. The co-main event is a women’s bantamweight title bout between Ronda Rousey and Canadian Alexis Davis.
