SPORTSNET.CA
All samples for fighters tested from last weekend’s UFC 98 in Las Vegas came back clean for drugs, the Nevada State Athletic Commission said Monday.
NSAC executive director Keith Kizer confirmed that the following athletes were tested on the night of the fights, which took place at the MGM Grand on Saturday, May 23: George Roop, Yoshiyuki Yoshida, Krzysztof Soszynski, Kyle Bradley, Brock Larson, Frankie Edgar, Chael Sonnen, Matt Hughes, Rashad Evans and Lyoto Machida. There were no surprises as all tests were negative.
The participants tested are mostly random, though the commission typically tests all winners as well as those who compete in higher-profile fights such as the main event. Main card competitor Drew McFedries and Canadian Tim Hague, who was a victor on the undercard, were the only two winners not tested, according to the email sent by Kizer.
Machida defeated Evans to become the UFC’s new light-heavyweight champion in the show’s main event. Evans, the only loser to be tested on fight night, was also among four fighters randomly selected to submit samples a couple of weeks prior to the event, along with Edgar, Hughes and Matt Serra. All four passed those as well.
Sherk was seen running out of the arena without a shirt immediately after his UFC 98 decision loss to Edgar. The UFC’s former lightweight champion, who received a fine and six-month suspension by the California State Athletic Commission for a positive drug test following a July 2007 bout, did not meet with doctors or officials before leaving.
He was given a 45-day medical suspension for what officials called precautionary reasons — not unusual for fighters involved in bouts that involve a lot of contact. However, according to Sherdog.com, Sherk believed he was given the suspension solely because he went for a run first.
Sherk, who was also stripped of his belt after an official ruling from the CSAC in December 2007, cannot fight again before July 8, and is not allowed any contact in training until June 23.
NOTES: Former UFC light-heavyweight Victor Valimaki of Edmonton was one of two Edmontonians who won his debut with hometown promotion The Fight Club on Saturday. Valimaki was impressive in defeating St. Paul, Minn.’s Isaiah Larson in the co-main event of TFC 7: Full Throttle at the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton. He won by TKO due to unanswered blows at 3:40 of the second round, much to the crowd’s delight. Meanwhile welterweight Ryan (The Real Deal) Ford won in even quicker fashion, thoroughly dominating Alaskan Dave Mazany in the headliner, forcing a TKO stoppage just 28 seconds into the fight.
