Banned substance knocks Lyoto Machida out of Dan Henderson rematch
In a shocker, former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida (22-7) is out of his Saturday UFC on Fox tilt against Dan Henderson due to out-of-competition use of a banned substance.
UFC released the following Wednesday:
“The UFC organization was made aware today by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), the independent administrator of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, that Lyoto Machida declared the usage of a banned substance during an out-of-competition sample collection last week. Machida stated that he was unaware that the substance was prohibited both in and out of competition and, in accordance with the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, his disclosure of usage will be taken into consideration by USADA during any potential results management and adjudication process.
Given this information, UFC officials have elected to remove Machida from his scheduled bout against Dan Henderson this Saturday in Tampa, Fla. Henderson will be re-booked for a new bout in the near future.”
This is the first drug test failure for the 13-year fighter. The 37-year-old was looking to snap a two-fight losing streak against Henderson, whom he had beaten by split decision in February 2013.
The main card has been decimated by injury and now, this. The main card on Fox is expected to now be:
– Rashad Evans vs. Glover Teixeira
– Rose Namajunas vs. Tecia Torres
– Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Darrell Horcher
– Cub Swanson vs. Hacran Dias
While Machida hasn’t commented publicly yet, Henderson did on Twitter:
P.O.S. -No respect https://t.co/03O5oM7sM9
— Dan Henderson (@danhendo) April 13, 2016
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.