Former bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw was suspended for two years by USADA on Tuesday.

Longtime UFC commentator Joe Rogan is a fan of Dillashaw’s fighting, but admitted on a recent podcast that there is no other way to characterize Dillashaw’s positive drug test result for EPO, “This is just cheating. This isn’t any accident.”

USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) announced the news while revealing that Dillashaw tested positive for EPO, which is typically used in blood doping to help athletes for better endurance and conditioning. It’s a drug that has been abused for years in the professional cycling and endurance athletics worlds.

EPO is one of the key substances that helped Lance Armstrong ride to seven Tour de France titles. Eventually exposed for his systematic approach to doping, Armstrong has since been banned from cycling for life.

As this was considered a first-time offense under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, Dillashaw received the maximum penalty of a two-year suspension and voluntarily relinquished the UFC bantamweight championship.

“To me, it’s a shame, too, because I’m a TJ fan,” Rogan said on his Wednesday podcast. “I think he’s a phenomenal fighter and I’m a big fan of watching him perform. But it taints his legacy. It just does. There’s no way around it.

“When you get caught cheating… this stuff, there’s no way it’s not cheating. This is just cheating. This isn’t any accident. It taints your legacy. The guy had an amazing legacy: two-time bantamweight champion, one of the best pound-for-pound fighters. The way he beat Renan Barao. I was like holy s–t.”

Having specifically tested positive for recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) – synthetic EPO – it was clear that the drug had to have been injected and couldn’t have been caused by a tainted supplement, as so many athletes have claimed as a defense recently after testing positive for other banned substances.

Dillashaw has not issued a statement since the USADA ruling. A couple of his coaches have commented, condemning the use of banned substances, but supporting Dillashaw.

Joe Rogan still admires TJ Dillashaw’s fighting ability

Similarly, Rogan still respects Dillashaw’s abilities as a fighter, but can’t deny the potential benefits that Dillashaw received from using EPO.

“It doesn’t take away from the fact that he’s amazing. TJ’s an amazing fighter, but f—, man,” Rogan continued. “To test positive for EPO in the Henry Cejudo fight. You’ve got to think, if you’re on EPO, how much does that allow you to train extra time? How much does it allow you to recover? What is the quantifiable benefit? It must be pretty significant. A lot of the cyclists, a lot of heavy duty endurance athletes use it. I almost want to try it.

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“I think what it does is it raises your threshold if you’re already an elite endurance athlete, too. They’re already looking for that extra edge… then they take that EPO… it jacks them up, they can do more work. They don’t run out of oxygen. They don’t run out of juice. And for a guy like TJ, his style is so kinetic, so much movement, explosion. He needs that juice.

“It’s crazy. It’s a hard one to swallow.”

What happens to the UFC bantamweight title following Dillashaw’s suspension

Despite the advantages of EPO, Cejudo knocked Dillashaw out just 32 seconds into their UFC on ESPN+ 1 headlining bout in January, retaining his UFC flyweight championship. Cejudo will now face Marlon Moraes at UFC 238 in June to determine who will take Dillashaw’s place as the bantamweight champion.

Meanwhile, Dillashaw will be forced to sit out for the next two years.

Following a pair of knockout wins over Cody Garbrandt, Dillashaw was considered arguably the best bantamweight fighter of all time. Now following this suspension for a doping violation, Dillashaw’s accomplishments will undoubtedly come under a tremendous amount of scrutiny.

Joe Rogan’s dishes on TJ Dillashaw testing positive for EPO

(Courtesy of JRE Clips)

Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/joe-rogan-tj-dillashaw-drug-test-epo-cheating

(Courtesy of UFC)

Tune in as we count down Max Holloway’s top five finishes in the UFC through 2018. Holloway faces Dustin Poirier for the interim lightweight championship at UFC 236 on April 13.  The featherweight champion moves up a division to try and capture another title. 

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Tune in Saturday, April 13, for UFC 236 full live results, where Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier battle for the next shot at UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Kelvin Gastelum and Israel Adesanya meet in the UFC 236 co-main event for the interim middleweight title and a chance to unify the belt with champion Robert Whittaker.

Check out the latest UFC 236 betting lines.

Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/max-holloways-top-5-ufc-finishes

If there’s still a flyweight division in the UFC, the next No. 1 contender for the title will likely be determined when Joseph Benavidez faces Jussier Formiga in a rematch at UFC Fight Night in Minneapolis, Minnesota on June 29.

UFC officials announced the pairing on Wednesday.

Who deserves the shot at a flyweight title!?@JussierFormiga @JoeJitsu look to give us answers at #UFCMinneapolis. pic.twitter.com/9yXOCSlkuN

— UFC (@ufc) April 10, 2019

While questions remain about the UFC’s intentions to keep or quit the 125-pound men’s division, fights are still being booked while current champion Henry Cejudo is preparing to move up to bantamweight to challenge for the vacant title against Marlon Moraes at UFC 238.

Both Benavidez and Formiga believed they deserved the shot at the belt but instead they will face off with the winner almost assuredly getting the next crack at gold if flyweight is still around in the latter part of 2019.

Benavidez holds a TKO win over Formiga in their first fight from 2013 that led to the former WEC fighter competing for the inaugural flyweight championship in the UFC.

More recently, Benavidez has rattled off wins in eight of his past nine fights including back-to-back victories over Alex Perez and Dustin Ortiz.

As for Formiga, he’s on the best run of his UFC career after four consecutive wins in a row. In his last fight, Formiga defeated highly touted flyweight prospect Deiveson Figueiredo in Mach.

Now Formiga will seek vengeance against Benavidez while both fighters look to cement themselves as the No. 1 contender in the flyweight division.

Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/joseph-benavidez-vs-jussier-formiga-2-set-for-ufc-fight-night-in-minneapolis

Following a loss to Sean O’Malley at UFC 222 to kick off his 2018, bantamweight Andre Soukhamthath was looking to get things back on track when he took on Jonathan Martinez at UFC Fight Night 138 last October.

Over the course of three rounds Soukhamthath was able to do what was needed to pick up a unanimous decision victory over Martinez and his second win in his last three fights overall.

“I think I was really focused coming into the fight,” Soukhamthath told MMAWeekly.com. “I think I did okay. I think I was mentally and physically ready.

“I think my performance in the Octagon, even though I felt pretty good and I looked pretty good that it could have been better. I just think that that’s with my decision making in my fights.”

A big part of why Soukhamthath feels like he was able to rebound against Martinez was the fact that he returned to training with the people that helped him achieve his previous success in the sport.

“Last camp I came back up north to my old coaches at home,” said Soukhamthath. “I think that’s what you saw in the Jonathan Martinez fight; you saw that hunger and saw that guy wanting to be best I can be and prove to the world that I belong in the Top 10 one day, and that I’m good enough to be in the Top 10 right now.

“I’m just 100% focused on the fight and nothing else. That’s what you saw in that fight and that’s what you’re going to see from now on. I’ve got the team around me; my teammates, my coaches; the whole team is built around me to help me get the job done on fight night.”

At UFC 236 in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday, Soukhamthath (13-6) will look to pick up his second straight victory when he faces Montel Jackson (7-1) in a preliminary 135-pound bout.

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“I’ve got to stay on my toes and be alert,” Soukhamthath said. “(Jackson is) fast and he’s long and he’s awkward. He’s good everywhere. I’m definitely not taking him lightly at all.

“I trained really hard for this fight, and I’m focused mentally, and even though it’s going to be a tough fight I’m looking forward to the competition and seeing how the fight goes. I’m ready to test myself.”

When it comes to the remainder of 2019, Soukhamthath is looking to build a winning streak and earn himself a continued stay in the UFC.

“I want to take it fight by fight, but I want to go undefeated this year,” said Soukhamthath. “I got signed in March (2017), so I go by that. March just passed, so it’s like a fresh year for me in 2019.

“I’d like to fight three more times until March (2020), and if I could go 3-0 that would be great. The goal is to win all my fights, get re-signed, get a nice little contract, and bring the UFC back to Rhode Island one day.”

Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/andre-soukhamthath-ready-to-test-himself-against-montel-jackson-at-ufc-236

(Click on the fight below and then scroll down to see in-fight live analytics and the latest results, courtesy of Fight Analytics. The first UFC 236: Holloway vs. Poirier 2 bout from Atlanta is scheduled to begin on Saturday, April 13, at 6:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. PT.)

UFC 236: Holloway vs. Poirier 2 marks the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to Atlanta with a dual-championship bill. It is also the promotion’s move away from the traditional pay-per-view model to ESPN+ pay-per-view.

Featherweight champion Max Holloway moves up to the lightweight division to face top contender Dustin Poirier for the interim UFC lightweight championship in the UFC 236 headliner. The winner will be crowned the interim titleholder and slotted as the next challenger to lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov when he returns to the cage later this year.

Holloway and Poirier have fought once before, more than seven years ago, with Poirier winning. Since that time, Holloway has run away with the UFC featherweight division.

He’s won 13 consecutive fights, become the UFC featherweight champion, and is considered one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world.

Poirier hasn’t been on quite the streak that Holloway has, but returned to lightweight a few years after defeating Holloway, and is currently on a run of 8-1-1, elevating his stock to championship caliber.

The UFC 236 co-main event features another interim championship as Kelvin Gastelum and Israel Adesanya fight for the middleweight version. 

Gastelum was already supposed to have fought Robert Whittaker for the undisputed title at UFC 234, but the bout was derailed on the day of the fight when Whittaker was rushed to surgery for a hernia and collapsed bowel. Adesanya defeated Anderson Silva in the de facto headliner and earned the bout with Gastelum, while Whittaker sits on the sidelines.

UFC 236 takes place on Saturday, April 13, at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Ga.

Check out the MMAWeekly.com Rumors page for more scheduled events and rumored fight cards.

UFC 236 Live Results: Holloway vs. Poirier 2 Full Live Results

– – – – – UFC 236 Live Results will load here on fight day – – – – –

Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/ufc-236-full-live-results-holloway-vs-poirier-atlanta