Two UFC fighters had their temporary suspensions extended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) during Tuesday’s monthly meeting.
Darrius Flowers was scheduled to face Erick Gonzalez in a lightweight bout at UFC Vegas 70, but he was pulled from that fight in mid-February. Reports at the time indicated Flowers was off the card for unknown reasons.
During Tuesday’s NSAC meeting, Deputy Attorney General Joel Becker said Flowers “submitted to a urinalysis, the results of which reflected the presence of ostarine, a quote, other anabolic agent, banned under the latest WADA list. The testing of respondent’s B sample confirmed the results… Executive director (Jeffrey) Mullen temporarily suspended respondent’s license on February 27th, 2023, and it’s now being requested that this suspension be continued pending resolution of the formal disciplinary action.”
Flowers was to make his UFC debut on the UFC Vegas 70 card. He scored a Rd 1 TKO win over Amiran Gogoladze on a Dana White Contender Series card in August 2022 to earn his UFC contract.
The other fighter who had his NSAC suspension extended was Kyler Phillips.
Phillips was slated to face Raphael Assuncao on the UC Vegas 71 fight card in March. Phillips was pulled from the card for undisclosed reasons as well, back in February, and replaced by Davey Grant.
According to Becker, “respondent submitted to a urinalysis, the result of which reflected the presence of ostarine, again, a quote, other anabolic agent under the latest WADA list. Testing of respondent’s B sample again confirmed the results. Based on these results. executive director Mullen temporarily suspended respondent’s license on March 1st, 2023, and is now being requested that this suspension be continued pending resolution of the form of disciplinary action.”
Phillips last fought in February 2022, defeating Marcel Rojo via third-round submission at UFC 271. Phillips has been with the UFC since February 2020.
The commission voted to extend the suspensions of both fighters and informed Flowers and Phillips of the disciplinary complaints against them. The NSAC will likely look to make a final ruling on both cases in the next few months.
Neither Phillips nor Flowers have made a public statement about their suspensions at this time.
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