Anderson Silva Receives One Year Suspension From USADA
- by Rene Duval
- in Sport
- — Juil 22, 2018
I felt like my career and everything I had worked so hard for was dying and my future was hanging in the balance.
Anderson "The Spider" Silva will now likely return to the middleweight division where there will be no shortage of competition at the top of the division looking for a fight.
"USADA has policies and procedures and I respect their decision", Silva said.
Finally, almost a year after the failed tests, Ariel Helwani of ESPN reports that Silva has been informed that he will receive a one-year suspension by USADA for a contaminated substance. The other negative for Silva was that the test failure cost him a main event slot against Kelvin Gastelum at UFC Fight Night Shanghai previous year.
On the flip side, Silva received a one-year suspension from USADA and is just waiting until November to take his next fight, which should be booked in the coming months. Naturally, Silva denied purposefully or knowingly using any banned substances. The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) rejected the defense and handed down a retroactive one-year suspension. If no reduction had been applied due to the finding that Silva's positive test was caused by a contaminated product, the standard sanction for a second violation involving a non-Specified Substance would have resulted in a four-year period of ineligibility.
The former champion said via his PR team that "I am vindicated", adding that "the past nine months have been extremely hard".
As with all fighters who've accepted sanctions for anti-doping violations, Silva is required to make himself available to random drug testing during his suspension.
One of the UFC's most dominant champions could be headed back inside the Octagon before the end of 2018.
This is great news - I am vindicated. My legacy is restored.
Silva will be eligible to return to competition this October.
In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Silva made it known that he still has the desire to fight the Canadian star in a super fight as he wants to get back inside of the Octagon fighting once again after his latest troubles but even though years have passed from when they were in their primes, he still has hope for a fight that never came to fruition.
Silva last fought in February of 2017, claiming a somewhat controversial split decision win over Derek Brunson to register his first victory since an October 2012 win over Stephan Bonnar. Diaz, meanwhile, tested positive for marijuana metabolites.
