UFC On FX 6 fighters Rousimar Palhares and Joey Beltran have each received a nine month suspension from fighting after failing post-fight drugs test at the event in Australia on December 14th.
Palhares, who was knocked out by Hector Lombard in the first round of their fight, was found to have elevated levels of testosterone – the same issue that’s lead to suspensions for the likes of Chael Sonnen and Alistair Overeem in the past.
As for Beltran who had claimed a decision win over Igor Pokrajac, he tested positive for Nandralone, a performance enhancing steroid that is used to build muscle mass.
In addition to his suspension Beltran’s win is also set to be amended to a no-contest as a result.
It’s interesting to note that other recent drug test failures leading to suspensions for Thiago Silva, Stephan Bonnar and Dave Herman also occured at international events.
It could be that fighters believe they have more chance of getting away with using illegal substances at these shows due to the fact that these countries don’t have official MMA governing bodies and so don’t do drugs tests themselves.
However, the UFC has it’s own drug test procedures put in place for events like this and it appears to be catching a number of fighters red-handed.
