Yoel Romero (11-1) was informed on January 12th, 2016 that he potentially tested positive for a failed drug test taken out-of-competition. His team insisted that it was due to a tainted supplement that caused him to fail his USADA test, however, and the supplement was indeed found to have had the incriminating substance in it despite
Yoel Romero (11-1) was informed on January 12th, 2016 that he potentially tested positive for a failed drug test taken out-of-competition. His team insisted that it was due to a tainted supplement that caused him to fail his USADA test, however, and the supplement was indeed found to have had the incriminating substance in it despite not listing it on the label.
“The substance has a label with a bunch of stuff on it,” his manager Malki Kawa said in an interview days after the news broke. “None of that is illegal to take. What he got popped for is not on the label. So it’s obviously not his fault that he popped for this.”
“I don’t expect it to be two years,” Kawa said. “I don’t think two years would be fair.”
But even though the supplement was found to be the culprit — or at least to some degree — Romero will apparently still receive a suspension, although he doesn’t plan to accept it.
Ariel Helwani reported on Wednesday that USADA has given Romero a suspension, and he has decided to appeal the suspension. The middleweight is now headed to arbitration. No word yet on how long the suspension is for.
“Confirmed that USADA has given Yoel Romero a suspension, per sources. He has decided to appeal and will be going to arbitration.“
Confirmed that USADA has given Yoel Romero a suspension, per sources. He has decided to appeal and will be going to arbitration.
Romero last fought at UFC 194 when he defeated Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza on the main card, and is currently on a seven-fight winning streak. Following the fight, he was considered as a potential #1 contender for Luke Rockhold’s middleweight title, but obviously his future as a title contender is now on hold as his puzzling suspension situation gets mulled over in an appeal.
According to Ariel Helwani, UFC middleweight contender Yoel Romero plans to appeal his suspension by the USADA for a failed drug test.
Romero popped positive following his win over Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza for a potential doping violation. The test was given out of competition by the USADA, but would likely sideline Romero for a year.
In December, the former Olympic medalist scored a split decision vs. Souza, keeping his UFC record a unbeaten at 7-0. Romero is 11-1 in his career with wins over Lyoto Machida, Tim Kennedy and Brad Tavares.
Romero has continually said the test was wrong, asking for his second sample to be tested.
Yoel Romero was believed to be on his way to challenging for the UFC middleweight title before a drug test came back with concern from the USADA.
While Romero continues to fight to clean his name, current champion Luke Rockhold isn’t sure he’ll ever…
Yoel Romero was believed to be on his way to challenging for the UFC middleweight title before a drug test came back with concern from the USADA.
While Romero continues to fight to clean his name, current champion Luke Rockhold isn’t sure he’ll ever be able to view the former Olympic wrestler in the same light.
“We all have our suspensions and what’s what,” Rockhold said (thanks to MMAjunkie.com for the quotes). “But Yoel is just…the guy doesn’t do himself any favors. Any fight he has he goes out there and doesn’t perform, and then he shoots himself in the foot on the mic. This is a business.
“I’m not going to waste my time in my life to fight someone for pennies. Go out there and earn it. Make the people want it. I would love to shut you down. Then he gets tested for something. It’s laughable at this point.
“Who knows if he’s clean or not, if it’s a tainted supplement. We all know the truth. Come back because I’ll beat that ass, too.”
Rockhold is set to defend his title later this year at UFC 199 vs. former champion Chris Weidman.
It may not have been the most hyped mixed martial arts (MMA) event of 2016, but last night’s (Sunday, February 21, 2016) UFC Fight Night 83 from the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, delivered a heavy-hitting mix of great fights and finishes that earned it a deserving recognition as a very solid under-the-radar event.
It may not have been the most hyped mixed martial arts (MMA) event of 2016, but last night’s (Sunday, February 21, 2016) UFC Fight Night 83 from the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, delivered a heavy-hitting mix of great fights and finishes that earned it a deserving recognition as a very solid under-the-radar event.
There was a great women’s bout between Lauren Murphy and Kelly Faszholz that earned ‘Fight of the Night’ on the Fight Pass prelims, while the fight right after it between Ashlee Evans-Smith and Marion Reneau resulted in yet another MMA scoring controversy that only furthered the backlash towards the scoring system in place and the judges present in Pittsburgh that made some head-scratching errors.
There was also the continued rises of a few strong up-and-coming stars, and another return of sorts as recent lightweight title challenger Donald Cerrone returned to winning ways with an impressive first round submission of late replacement Alex Oliveira. All in all, it was a strong card that continued the UFC’s strong recent efforts and will continue promotional momentum into the absolutely blockbuster events scheduled for two weeks to come.
Let’s take a look back at the five biggest takeaways from UFC Fight Night 83.
Highly ranked middleweight contender Yoel “The Soldier of God” Romero scored a controversial yet pivotal victory over fellow contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza at last December’s UFC 194, a win that many felt had put him next in line for a title shot. Title talks were put on hold, however, when it was reported a few
Highly ranked middleweight contender Yoel “The Soldier of God” Romero scored a controversial yet pivotal victory over fellow contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza at last December’s UFC 194, a win that many felt had put him next in line for a title shot.
Title talks were put on hold, however, when it was reported a few weeks back that Romero was flagged by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for a potential violation to their guidelines.
Remaining relatively quiet since, Romero’s B-Sample was sent out for further testing, and although it returned positive, he and his manager, Malki Kawa, appeared on today’s (February 8, 2016) edition of the MMA Hour to explain the mishap.
Kawa explained that Romero tested positive for a substance that was not listed on the label of a supplement he was taking:
“The substance has a label with a bunch of stuff on it,” Kawa said. “None of that is illegal to take. What he got popped for is not on the label. So it’s obviously not his fault that he popped for this.”
Despite the explanation, “The Soldier of God” did indeed fail a drug test, and as a result, he could be facing up to a two year suspension, although Kawa doesn’t necessarily see that happening:
“I don’t expect it to be two years,” Kawa said. “I don’t think two years would be fair.”
In the end, however, the manager, admitted that it is the responsibility of the fighter to know what he’s taking:
“He did take the supplement,” Kawa said. “If you take a supplement, you run the risk of this happening. The responsibility does fall on Yoel.”
Romero reiterated this statement as well:
“I think it’s my responsibility when I take something. But I think maybe a public warning [would be a fair punishment]. I don’t know. … Nobody knows. When you see the supplement, outside it says it’s clean, you can take it.”
“Given that Mr. Romero has publicly discussed his case, we can confirm that he did test positive for a prohibited substance. At this time we are investigating the circumstances surrounding his positive test to determine the appropriate outcome, in accordance with the rules. It is also to remember that there is a full and fair legal process to handle the adjudication of any case, and all athletes are provided full due to process before any decision is reached.”
What do you think an appropriate punishment for Romero would be?
It looks like Yoel Romero’s ‘potential’ USADA violation may have been confirmed, as ‘Soldier of God’ gets scratched from the official rankings… After marking his territory as the next to face newly crowned UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, Yoel Romero has come unstuck. He defeated Jacare Souza in a close split decision at UFC 194,
It looks like Yoel Romero’s ‘potential’ USADA violation may have been confirmed, as ‘Soldier of God’ gets scratched from the official rankings…
After marking his territory as the next to face newly crowned UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, Yoel Romero has come unstuck. He defeated Jacare Souza in a close split decision at UFC 194, it was revealed that ‘Soldier of God’ had potentially violated the USADA (United States Anti Doping Agency) policy, in layman’s terms he’d possibly failed a drug test. Rumours began to swirl about designer steroids being found in the former Olympic wrestlers system, but nothing was confirmed.
Today we learn that the UFC rankings have been updated, and not only has Dominick Cruz debuted on the pound-for-pound list, but Romero has been yanked from the rankings all together. The full and updated list is here for your viewing.
POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Jon Jones
2 Demetrious Johnson
3 Conor McGregor
4 Robbie Lawler +1
5 Fabricio Werdum +2
6 Rafael dos Anjos
7 Luke Rockhold +2
8 Jose Aldo -1
9 Dominick Cruz *NR
10 Daniel Cormier
11 Chris Weidman
12 TJ Dillashaw -8
13 Holly Holm +1
14 Joanna Jedrzejczyk -1
15 Cain Velasquez -3
FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 John Dodson
3 Henry Cejudo
4 Ian McCall
5 Jussier Formiga
6 Kyoji Horiguchi
7 John Moraga
8 Zach Makovsky
9 Dustin Ortiz
10 Ali Bagautinov
11 Ray Borg
12 Wilson Reis
13 Louis Smolka
14 Chris Cariaso
15 Sergio Pettis
BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Dominick Cruz
1 TJ Dillashaw -1
2 Renan Barao
3 Urijah Faber
4 Raphael Assuncao
5 Aljamain Sterling
6 Michael McDonald
7 Bryan Caraway +1
7 Thomas Almeida
9 Takeya Mizugaki
10 Johnny Eduardo
11 Frankie Saenz +2
12 John Lineker -1
13 Eddie Wineland -1
14 Iuri Alcantara +1
15 Francisco Rivera -1
FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Conor McGregor
1 Jose Aldo
2 Frankie Edgar
3 Chad Mendes
4 Max Holloway
5 Ricardo Lamas
6 Cub Swanson
7 Charles Oliveira
8 Dennis Bermudez
9 Jeremy Stephens
10 Hacran Dias
11 Darren Elkins
12 Tatsuya Kawajiri
13 Brian Ortega +2
14 Clay Guida -1
15 Nik Lentz -1
LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Rafael dos Anjos
1 Eddie Alvarez +3
2 Khabib Nurmagomedov
3 Anthony Pettis -2
4 Donald Cerrone -1
5 Tony Ferguson
6 Nate Diaz +1
7 Michael Johnson -1
8 Beneil Dariush
9 Edson Barboza -1
10 Al Iaquinta
11 Bobby Green
12 Dustin Poirier
13 Michael Chiesa
14 Evan Dunham +1
15 Benson Henderson -1
WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Robbie Lawler
1 Rory MacDonald
2 Johny Hendricks +1
3 Tyron Woodley -1
4 Carlos Condit
5 Demian Maia
6 Matt Brown
7 Dong Hyun Kim
8 Stephen Thompson +1
8 Neil Magny
10 Rick Story +1
11 Tarec Saffiedine -1
12 Kelvin Gastelum
13 Benson Henderson
14 Thiago Alves
14 Gunnar Nelson +1
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Luke Rockhold
1 Chris Weidman
2 Jacare Souza +1
3 Vitor Belfort +1
4 Lyoto Machida +1
5 Tim Kennedy +1
6 Michael Bisping +1
7 Robert Whittaker +1
8 Gegard Mousasi +1
9 Thales Leites +1
10 Uriah Hall +1
11 Derek Brunson +1
12 Dan Henderson +1
13 Roan Carneiro +1
14 CB Dollaway +1
15 Rafael Natal *NR
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Jon Jones
2 Anthony Johnson
3 Alexander Gustafsson
4 Ryan Bader
5 Glover Teixeira
6 Ovince Saint Preux
7 Rashad Evans
8 Mauricio Rua
9 Jimi Manuwa
10 Patrick Cummins +2
11 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
12 Corey Anderson +1
13 Rafael Cavalcante +1
14 Gian Villante +1
15 Ilir Latifi *NR
HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Fabricio Werdum
1 Cain Velasquez
2 Stipe Miocic
3 Alistair Overeem
4 Andrei Arlovski -1
5 Junior Dos Santos
6 Travis Browne
7 Ben Rothwell
8 Josh Barnett
9 Mark Hunt
10 Frank Mir
11 Roy Nelson
12 Jared Rosholt
13 Antonio Silva
14 Matt Mitrione
15 Alexey Oliynyk
