Manager: ‘Junior dos Santos has never taken PEDs’

Junior dos Santos’ manager issued a statement following the removal of her fighter from UFC 215 due to a USADA issue.

USADA had quite the surprise for UFC fans earlier today. Junior dos Santos, the former UFC heavyweight champion and a man that has been outspoken about performance-enhancing drug use in the sport, was flagged for a potential anti-doping violation by the watchdog just a few hours ago. This means he is out of his UFC 215 bout with Francis Ngannou.

It didn’t take long for Dos Santo’s manager, Ana Guedes, to release a statement to MMA Fighting denying any wrongdoing on behalf of her fighter:

"We are still trying to understand the test results, so that we can investigate and determine what happened. What we know as of now is that Junior dos Santos has never taken PEDs, has never knowingly used any banned substances, and has always supported USADA's policies and efforts to keep the sport clean.

"If ever there was a fighter who made his position on this issue unequivocal, it's Junior. We are confident that that we will be able to figure out what happened, and will provide an explanation once we have one.”

The UFC is currently seeking a replacement for Ngannou so he can still compete on the September 9th card in Edmonton.