UFC fans won’t be seeing former heavyweight champ Fabricio Werdum for the better part of two years, after being hit with a lengthy suspension for steroid use.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum has been hit with a two-year suspension following a violation of the promotion’s Anti-Doping Policy. Originally reported earlier this year, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced Werdum’s fate in a press release Tuesday. It’s a harsh penalty for a fighter already in his forties, and could mark the end of Werdum’s time in the UFC.
Tuesday’s release notes that Werdum tested positive for an anabolic steroid:
USADA announced today that UFC(r) athlete Fabricio Werdum, of Redondo Beach, Calif., has tested positive for a prohibited substance and received a two-year sanction for his anti-doping policy violation.
Werdum, 41, tested positive for trenbolone and its metabolite epitrenbolone following an out-of-competition urine test conducted on April 25, 2018. Trenbolone is a non-Specified Substance in the class of Anabolic Agents and prohibited at all times under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List.
Werdum’s two-year period of ineligibility, the standard sanction for a first offense involving a non-Specified Substance, began on May 22, 2018, the date his provisional suspension was imposed.
Werdum (23–8–1) last fought in March, when he faced Alexander Volkov in the main event of UFC London (UFC Fight Night 127). He lost via knockout in the fourth round, snapping a two fight winning streak. Werdum won the UFC heavyweight championship in 2015, defeating Cain Velasquez. He subsequently lost the title in his very next fight after charging into a knockout blow from Stipe Miocic.
At 41, it will be interesting to see if Werdum ever returns to the promotion, as two years out and returning at 43 will be no easy hurdle to clear.
