There’s no excuse for ignorance when an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter violates a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) restriction. Former Lightweight and Welterweight champion, B.J. Penn, learned that the hard way earlier this evening when he was flagged for running afoul of USADA’s intravenous (IV) rehydration policy.
Penn, who initially hailed the new IV policy and slammed the “wimps” who cut too much weight and rehydrated after weigh ins, apparently was unaware that it was a year-round stipulation.
“The Prodigy” offered the following statement via his website:
“I voluntarily disclosed to USADA that during a non-fight period that I had an IV administered under the care of a doctor. The rule for IV usage had changed since my last fight in the UFC and was unaware of the change and voluntarily disclosed the information to USADA. I had no idea that IV use was banned 365 days a year. At no time in my career in martial arts have I ever doped and anticipate all test results from USADA will come back clean and will be working with the UFC to get the matter cleared up and return to fight as soon as possible.”
Penn was issued a provisional suspension and pulled from his re-worked Featherweight fight against Cole Miller at UFC 199, which is scheduled for The Forum in Los Angeles, Calif., on June 4, 2016. The promotion announced that a search was underway to find a replacement for Penn to fill-in on short notice.
In the meantime, #BeerAndHotDogs, anyone?