Bad news for Machida fans, good news for USADA fans. The former light heavyweight champion has been pulled from his upcoming bout against Dan Henderson over a failed drug test.
UFC on Fox 19 just took another major hit. The bad news started rolling in last week, when officials announced that Tony Ferguson had been pulled from his headlining bout against Khabib Nurmagomedov, following a fluid buildup in his lungs. Eventually a replacement was found to fight Khabib on the main card, newcomer Darrell Horcher, but it was a major blow to the card’s lineup of meaningful bouts.
And that ball is still rolling, as the UFC announced today via press release that Lyoto Machida has been removed from this week’s Fox card as well, and his planned fight with Dan Henderson has been cancelled. It’s not injury related though, as this appears to be one of the rare times where USADA testing has cancelled a big fight.
USADA notified the UFC that the former light heavyweight champion and middleweight title contender declared his use of a banned substance to the agency during a out-of-competition drug test last week. Because Machida admitted using the substance, claiming that he did not know at the time that it was banned both in and out of competition, the UFC appears to have made the decision to remove him from the card.
According to the UFC, Henderson will recieve a new fight on an upcoming card in the near future. Cub Swanson vs. Hacran Dias has now been bumped up to main card status.
Here’s a look at the current bout order: