There was plenty of confusion as to why the original UFC 186 co-main event between Rory MacDonald and Hector Lombard was scrapped. Lombard himself wasn’t even aware that his fight was cancelled, but now we have the answer. The Nevada Athletic Commission confirmed to MMA Fighting that Lombard failed his UFC 182 fight night drug test. UFC officials later confirmed that that was the reason for the bout cancellation, and MacDonald will instead receive a new opponent. According to the lab report, Lombard was flagged for the anabolic steroid desoxymethyltestosterone, known as “DMT” for short.
The 37-year-old defeated Josh Burkman by unanimous decision on January 3rd. His drug test was taken on the same day, with the results reported to the commission on January 13th, nearly a month ago, but the NAC did not publicly announce the results for all forms of testing for this particular event. Meanwhile, Burkman passed all of his administered tests. While NAC executive director Bob Bennett isn’t sure if Lombard will receive his temporary suspension at the February 17th meeting, it is not only likely that he will be suspended and fined, but his win will turn into a no contest.
UFC 182 dominated the January headlines when Jon Jones tested positive for cocaine metabolites in his own out-of-competition test, but now the attention has shifted to the future of the former Bellator middleweight champion, who has become the latest MMA fighter to fail a drug test in 2015.
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