UFC lightweight Felipe Olivieri lost his promotional debut at the end of January against Tony Martin and the UFC has announced that the Brazilian fighter is facing a potential Anti-Doping Policy violation due to a drug test sample submitted prior to the fight.
In a statement released by the UFC on Friday, the promotion confirmed that Olivieri tested negative for banned substances in his fight night drug test, but a test submitted prior to the fight came back positive for a banned substance.
The complete statement on Olivieri from the UFC is below:
The UFC organization was notified today that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has informed Felipe Olivieri of a potential Anti-Doping Policy violation stemming from an out-of-competition sample collection. Although the sample collected from Olivieri following his bout at UFC Fight Night: Johnson vs. Bader on January 30, 2016, was reported as negative for prohibited substances, a sample collected from him in Brazil earlier that month, and analyzed at the WADA accredited laboratory in Rio de Janeiro, was recently reported to USADA as containing a prohibited substance.
USADA, the independent administrator of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, will handle the results management and appropriate adjudication of this case involving Olivieri, as it relates to the UFC Anti-Doping Policy and future UFC participation. Because Olivieri participated in a bout sanctioned by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board after the sample in question was collected, USADA will work to ensure that the Board has the necessary information to determine the appropriate course of action under the Board’s rules.