On Wednesday, it was announced that Lyoto Machida had been removed from his bout with Dan Henderson at UFC on FOX 19 following his admission of using a banned substance. The former light heavyweight champion, who admitted to using 7-keto-DHEA, says he didn’t know the drug was illegal.
Machida’s friend Glover Teixeira, who will take on Rashad Evans in tonight’s main event, spoke about the controversy to Ariel Helwani in a recent interview. The Brazilian is upset with the news and says “The Dragon” is ‘devastated with the situation’ (h/t Manny Fonseca of Movie Pilot).
“What happened with Lyoto is kind of upsetting me because he buying stuff over the counter and now? Who knows? You buy stuff over the counter. You want to take a, like yesterday I wanted to take an NyQuil, but I didn’t! Because uh, I read the book and there’s nothing they say about an NyQuil. They say all the scientific names that I don’t know. You know? It becomes closer to a fight you don’t want to be reading like, they have twenty-five pages to read, you know because I want to take one little (hold his hand up to imitate a pill).”
With Machida turning 38 next month and being on the receiving end of two losses to Luke Rockhold and Yoel Romero, a long term suspension could signal retirement for the Karateka.
Although Teixeira isn’t happy with the USADA’s confusing rule book, he says he’s pleased with their progress overall.
“I love the USADA. When USADA comes and, you know, before you sign I was tested seven times. Then you sign and USADA tested five, maybe six times, something like that, and I love that, because I don’t take any stuff.”
The MMA veteran accumulated 20 straight wins before losing to pound-for-pound #1 Jon Jones and Phil Davis in 2014. Since then, Teixeira has bounced back with stoppage victories over Ovince Saint Preux – who will challenge Jones for the interim 205-pound title at UFC 197 – and Patrick Cummins.
Glover Teixeira vs. Rashad Evans will feature as UFC on FOX 19’s main event and will take place later tonight at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
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