According to the New York commission, Chael Sonnen and Wandelei Silva passed out-of-competition drug testing.
One of the storylines surrounding the Bellator NYC grudge match between Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen was drug testing. The two men have definitely had their woes with suspensions for using performance enhancing drugs, and it seemed a bit surprising when the New York State Athletic Commission said that Bellator wasn’t offering up any money for additional testing and they weren’t requesting any back in May.
That changed a month later when Bellator CEO Scott Coker said that they would indeed be doing out-of-competition testing – less than two weeks before the bout.
Well, it appears that NYSAC has conducted that testing, and both men passed according to a one-sentence statement (via MMA Junkie):
“The (NYSAC) has completed out-of-competition testing for the Sonnen-Silva bout at (Bellator NYC) and looks forward to Saturday night.”
Sonnen (29-15-1, 0-1 Bellator) received a two-year suspension for testing positive for a plethora of PEDs, while Silva (35-12-1, 0-0 Bellator) was ultimately given a three-year ban for evading testing due to having a banned diuretic in his system. That all happened before their scheduled UFC 175 bout in 2014.
Sonnen has competed just once since then, getting submitted by Tito Ortiz in the first round of their April bout. Silva hasn’t fought since early 2013, where he stopped current UFC commentator Brian Stann in the latter’s last career fight.
Sonnen and Silva will headline Bellator NYC tomorrow in Madison Square Garden. The main card will air on PPV.