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Lyoto Machida

It has emerged this evening that Lyoto Machida (22-7) has accepted an 18-month suspension from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) as the result of a doping violation.

The former UFC light heavyweight champion, was due to face Dan Henderson (32-15) at UFC on Fox 19 but was removed from the card on April 13 after he admitted the use of a product that contained a banned substance.

Following the admission the Brazilian would proceed to fail a drug test for a banned substance, which has today been revealed to be a product which contained 7‐keto-dehydroepiandrosterone (7‐keto‐DHEA), which is said to be a hormonal supplement.

According to today’s announcement made by the USADA, the 38-year old “fully cooperated during the investigation after the Brazilian informed the body that that he did not realise that the substance within the product was prohibited.

Part of the statement released by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency read:

“Under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, as well as the World Anti-Doping Code, an athlete’s period of ineligibility for using a prohibited substance may be decreased depending on the athlete’s level of fault for the anti-doping policy violation. The UFC Anti-Doping Policy further provides that the prompt admission of an anti-doping policy violation may also be considered a mitigating factor in determining an appropriate sanction. Here, based on the circumstances of Machida’s violation, USADA determined that a reduction to 18-months from the standard two-year period of ineligibility was justified.”

Today’s announcement means that Machida will be ineligible to compete until October 2017, some 5-months after his 39th birthday.