Despite recently announcing his retirement, the UFC did not show any leniency towards Stephan Bonnar for testing positive for steroids for the second time in his career.
MMA Fighting broke the news this afternoon, receiving confirmation from Marc Ratner, the UFC’s Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, that “The American Psycho” will be suspended until Oct. 13, 2013.
“We feel very strongly that there’s a big difference between PED’s [performance-enhancing drugs] and marijuana,” Ratner said. “We think the commissions do a good job with PEDs, but we think with marijuana there should be some form of rehab involved, going through that kind of process and learning about it … Other sports have a difference between PEDs and recreational drugs.”
Bonnar tested positive for the anabolic steroid Drostanolone in a drug test administered after UFC 153, where Bonnar suffered a first round TKO at the hands of UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
The bout, which took place in Silva’s homeland of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was contested at light heavyweight.
Dave “Pee Wee” Herman also failed his UFC 153 post-fight drug test. This was also his second time failing a drug test under the UFC banner, however, in both instances Herman tested positive for marijuana.
Since the event took place outside of the United States and Canada, the UFC acts as their own athletic commission.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission suspended Bonnar for nine months, also issuing a $5,000 fine, shortly after UFC 62 when he tested positive for the anabolic steroid Boldenone. Bonnar lost a rematch to Forrest Griffin at the event.
Bonnar owned up to the positive test, stating he used the drug in order to rehabilitate an elbow injury leading up to the fight.
In Herman’s case, he failed his first drug test prior to UFC 136, where a bout with Mike Russow was planned. Despite being pulled from the card, the Team Quest fighter insisted he had not used marijuana leading up to the bout.
Given this breaking news, have MMA fans officially seen the last of Bonnar inside the Octagon?
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