Dana White has given his immediate reaction after it emerged that Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino has tested positive for the banned diuretic ‘spironolactonem’ during an out-of-competition test administered by USADA earlier this month.
In hindsight, the UFC president says it now makes sense why the 31 year-old recently turned down several title fights offered by the UFC, despite the fact that they had finally gave in to her demands to create a new woman’s featherweight division.
“First of all, I was offering these fights at 145 pounds,” White told TMZ Sports. “First fight, she had eight weeks to get ready. Second fight, she had 11 weeks to get ready. And third fight, she just turned down, and I thought it was strange.
“So she was turning down all these fights. … Not so strange now.”
As for ‘Cyborg’s’ future in the UFC, White admits he’s really not sure what’s going to happen.
“This will be the second time [she’s failed a drug test in her career],” White said. “I don’t know, I can’t answer that. We’ll have to see how this thing plays out.”
This latest revelation about ‘Cyborg’ puts the UFC in an awkward spot, as the 145lb division likely would never been created at this stage if it hadn’t been for the Brazilian star, but nonetheless White is attempting to remain upbeat about it.
“It’s funny how things work,” White said. “That I ended up making this Holly (Holm) and Germaine (de Randamie) fight at 145, which is perfect now.”
‘Cyborg’ has also spoken out on the matter, insisting that she was taking the diuretic purely for therapeutic reasons to recover from an extreme weight cut prior to her last fight in September.
She is now facing a potential one-year suspension from the sport, which means she wouldn’t be eligible to fight again until December of 2017.
