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It was recently announced that former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight contender, Gilbert Melendez, was handed a two-year suspension by United States Anti Doping Agency (USADA) after he failed an out-of-competition drug test conducted last October.
Melendez tested positive for Growth hormone-releasing peptide 6 (GHRP-6) and its metabolites GHRP-6(2-5)-OH and GHRP-6(2-6)-OH.
Upon catching wind of his sentence, “El Nino” fired back at USADA for having no jurisdiction over him due to the fact that he was no longer a UFC fighter at the time the test was conducted. Indeed, “El Nino” was released by the promotion on October 12, with the test taking place on Oct. 16.
“I’m an inactive fighter. I was released from the UFC before this test was taken,” Melendez told ESPN. I believe [USADA] has no jurisdiction over me. … I’m a private citizen and it’s no one’s business what I’m putting into my body at that point.”
According to USADA, Melendez didn’t object to the positive result itself, but rather the fact that he was no longer employed by the promotion. In rebuttal, USADA officials claimed that no one informed them of Melendez’s release, and if “El Nino” was no longer an active UFC fighter he could’ve rejected the test despite the fact that he was still in the testing pool.
Furthermore, Melendez also criticized USADA for not revealing in its statement — which you can see here — that while the arbitrator ruled that he could not fight under the UFC banner due to the ruling, he was free to compete elsewhere.
“In USADA’s release, I believe they failed to recognize that all the arbitrator awarded them was that I can’t fight in the UFC for two years — which I wasn’t going to do anyway, because I was released,” Melendez said.
While that may be the case, most promotions would likely adhere to USADA’s ruling. Nevertheless, the former Strikeforce lightweight champion still has no plans to compete anyway following his semi-retirement last year.
Melendez left UFC on a five-fight losing streak and racked up a 1-6 record with the promotion with his lone win coming against Diego Sanchez at UFC 166 way back in 2013.