April 13 – Lyoto Machida declares his usage of a banned substance. April 14 – USADA shows up to test Rafael dos Anjos and Fabricio Werdum.
That is the order of events that has led Kings MMA strength and conditioning coach Nick Curson to believe that the UFC’s anti-doping partner has actually targeted his fighters rather than test randomly.
Lyoto Machida was pulled from his UFC on Fox 19 fight with Dan Henderson after admitting to the use of Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) but insisted that he wasn’t aware that the steroid was on USADA’s list of banned substances.
The day after the admission, USADA testers arrived to test two more Kings MMA fighters, and Brazilians, in UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos and heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum.
And Curson, who works with Machida, Werdum and dos Anjos to keep them in peak physical shape, believes that the timing suggests that the testing was targeted and not random.
https://twitter.com/SpeedofSport/status/720709990944624640
https://twitter.com/SpeedofSport/status/720852442615709698
Werdum is scheduled to defend his heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic in the main event of next month’s UFC 198 card in Curitiba, Brazil.
And, judging by Curson’s Instagram, dos Anjos is working towards a title defence at this summer’s monumental UFC 200 card but an opponent for the 155 lb champ has yet to be officially announced.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEMgGdsN1wa/?taken-by=speedofsport&hl=en
