UFC heavyweight Raphael Pessoa suspended two years for anti-doping violation
May 3, 2021
USADA officials announced the suspension on Monday.
“Pessoa Nunes, 32, tested positive for hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) and its metabolites chlorothiazide and 4-amino-6-chloro-1,3-benzenedisulfonamide (ACB) as the result of urine samples collected out-of-competition on February 9, 2021, February 15, 2021, February 16, 2021, and March 4, 2021. HCTZ is a Specified Substance in the class of Diuretics and Masking Agents and is prohibited at all times under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy and UFC Prohibited List. Because Pessoa Nunes was not yet notified of the positive tests until after all four samples were collected, they were treated as a single second violation,” read the USADA statement.
Despite the award, Cruz later said, “I’m not gonna lie. I’m scared of USADA.”
Cruz is slated to fight Casey Kenney on the UFC 259 prelims on Saturday in Las Vegas.
UFC on Thursday announced several significant changes to its Anti-Doping Policy, including modifications in the handling of cannabis and its naturally occurring cannabinoid constituents.
Most importantly, positive tests over the threshold and decision limit for carboxy-THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, will no longer be considered a violation of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, unless additional evidence exists that an athlete used it intentionally for performance-enhancing purposes.
All other “phyto” cannabinoids (those derived naturally from the cannabis plant) are no longer prohibited substances under the Policy.
“While we want to continue to prevent athletes from competing under the influence of marijuana, and we have learned that urinary levels of carboxy-THC are highly variable after out-of-competition use and have poor scientific correlation to in-competition impairment,” stated Jeff Novitzky, UFC Senior Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance.