The Dragon’s 18 Month Doping Suspension

Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Lyoto Machida has been suspended from the UFC for 18 months for willingly admitting to using banned substances as well as failing a drug test administered by the United States-Anti Doping Agency.

Lyoto Machida accepted his sanction according to USADA officials in a release that was sent out to FOX Sports.

The lengthy suspension comes just days after Jon Jones received notice he was suspended until July 6th of 2017. Very similarly to Machida, Jones was expected to be doping because he tested positive for estrogen blockers.

“Upon notice from USADA of his potential violation, Machida immediately confirmed his use of the product, which listed 7-keto-DHEA as an ingredient, and fully cooperated with the subsequent investigation after advising USADA that he did not realize 7-keto-DHEA was a prohibited substance when he used the product.”

Overall, the past couple of years have been a rough stretch for Lyoto Machida. In 2014, Machida dropped down to middleweight and eventually got a title shot against Chris Weidman. The Dragon lost that fight via unanimous decision. Machida was able to bounce back and record a TKO win over C.B Dollaway. He fell in his next fight to eventual titleholder Luke Rockhold and then dropped a bout against now title contender Yoel Romero.

Following all of this, Machida was pulled from a fight with the retired UFC legend Dan Henderson. According to USADA, he failed the out of competition drug test that showed proof he was using prohibited substances.

However, Machida helped his own case by admitting to using banned substances. This led the USADA to reduce his sentence from a standard two-year suspension down to an 18-month suspension.

The real question is if Machida will walk away from fighting altogether. He is currently 38 years old and has seemed to lose his touch. Going just 1-2 in his last three fights, he has not had the same success as he did early on in his career. With an 18-month suspension, that puts him at just about 40 years old. Age treats everyone differently, but will he be able to keep up with the youth that has started to dominate the sport. It will be interesting to see how it all unfolds.

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