Jesse Taylor’s heart-warming redemption story appears to have fallen flat on it’s face after the news that he’s been flagged by USADA over a potential anti-doping violation.
The 34-year-old Taylor was flagged after an out-of-competition test on August 22nd and as a result has now been removed from his upcoming fight with Belal Muhammed at UFC Fight Night 121 in Sydney, Australia on November 18th.
Taylor already has a notoriously chequered past in the UFC, having initially came to light as a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter Season 7, where he made it all the way to the finals, but was then given the boot from the show by Dana White after it emerged he’d run amock in Las Vegas one night after the show finished filming, including kicking out the window of a limousine and threatening security guards.
Taylor continued fighting for a string of other promotions in the years that followed, before finally being handed a chance to redeem himself on The Ultimate Fighter 25, a season featuring a cast full of former UFC fighters looking to make their way back to the sport’s biggest stage.
It appeared as if Taylor had seized this golden opportunity with both hands as he again made it to the final, and this time won the show with a second round submission win over Dhiego Lima.
However, it now looks as if Taylor is destined to have his reputation tarnished once again due to this failed drug test, which comes two months after his TUF success story.
