UFC featherweight Grant Dawnson, who has yet to even make his debut with the promotion, has been flagged by USADA for a potential anti-doping violation.
In a statement released Friday, the UFC announced that Grant Dawson (12-1), who picked up a win at Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series 6 in August, had run afoul of USADA. As a result of failing an out-of-competition drug test in October, Dawson will be benched while the adjudication process plays out.
Per the UFC statement from earlier today,
The UFC organization was notified today that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has informed Grant Dawson of a potential Anti-Doping Policy violation stemming from an out-of-competition sample collected on October 18, 2017.
USADA, the independent administrator of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, will handle the results management and appropriate adjudication of this case involving Dawson. Under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, there is a full and fair legal process that is afforded to all athletes before any sanctions are imposed. Additional information will be provided at the appropriate time as the process moves forward.
Dawson, nicknamed “The Prophet,” won his way into the UFC with his August submission win over Adrian Diaz. That victory put Dawson on a three fight win streak. He was yet to have his debut UFC fight announced. Now, he could be sitting out for a year or more.
As is standard process for USADA, the substance(s) Dawson failed for have not been announced. Dawson was not alone in having a drug test failure announced Friday — Anderson Silva, the UFC announced, has also failed a test under USADA, and is off UFC Shanghai later this month.
