NAC Suspends, Fines Brock Lesnar For UFC 200 Test Failures
Former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar has finally been dealt his punishment from the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) for two failed drug tests before and after his UFC 200 win over Mark Hunt.
Lesnar will be suspended for one year and will also pay a $250,000 fine in a settlement he reached with the Nevada attorney general’s office. The hulking WWE star tested positive for estrogen blocker Hydroxy-clomiphene twice during his match with Hunt, first in a June 28 out-of-competition test issued by the UFC’s anti-doping partner USADA, and the second directly after his co-main event bout with Hunt at the massive summer card, which he originally won by unanimous decision.
The win will be changed to a no contest, and the fine equals 10 percent of Lesnar’s then-record $2.5 million disclosed purse. The suspension almost definitely means the 39-year-old Lesnar, who had been out of MMA for almost five years when he shocked most by revealing his return in June, is finished fighting in the UFC.
His test failures have incited a monstrous backlash from Hunt, who has been irate in demanding half of Lesnar’s purse due to his belief his health was legitimately at risk. The fan favorite knockout slugger has publicly blasted the UFC for granting Lesnar a special exemption from the normal USADA returning procedure, supposedly turning down two fights and gearing up for a legal battle against his employers.
It remains to be seen what comes to fruition from that bitter battle, but Lesnar has been dealth essentially the same sit that former light heavyweight ruler Jon Jones received, interestingly enough, for testing positive for the same substance before his scheduled UFC 200 match-up with Daniel Cormier that was canceled.
Lesnar was allowed to fight, and he dominated. Was the punishment enough?