Former UFC Heavyweight champion Frank Mir just got a 2 year suspension from the US Anti Doping Agency (USADA).
The UFC announced that Frank Mir who is soon to be 38 tested positive for a long-term metabolite of DHCMT (dehydrochloromethyltestosterone) on an in competition test after knockout loss to Mark Hunt approximately one year ago in Australia.
The suspension is backdated to April 8th making Mir effectively suspended for under a year.
USADA’s press release details:
DHCMT is a non-Specified Substance in the class of Anabolic Agents and prohibited at all times under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List. The finding of a long-term DHCMT metabolite in Mir’s sample, which was identified through a new detection method by the WADA-accredited laboratory in Tokyo, Japan, led to Mir being provisionally suspended from competition on April 8, 2016.
“Upon learning of the positive results of the sample analyzed in Tokyo, USADA had all previously collected stored samples for Mir reanalyzed at the WADA-accredited laboratory in Salt Lake City, Utah (SMRTL), which had also recently implemented methodology for the detection of newly identified long-term DHCMT metabolites. As a result of the additional analyses, SMRTL discovered that an out-of-competition sample Mir provided on February 5, 2016, which had previously been reported to USADA as negative for the presence of prohibited substances, was also positive for the same long-term DHCMT metabolite found in Mir’s in-competition sample.
Prior to this revelation Mir has lobbied to be released from contract and hasn’t been granted one yet.
In February Mir expressed interest in Bellator and WSOF:
“Yeah I’m interested [in fighting in other places],” he said. “Bellator and World Series of Fighting. Bellator especially, the fact that they have those open contracts where they allow their guys to fight so long as they’re not a champ and compete in other areas, that’s a great thing. The UFC really wants to lock people down and not let you fight which is … if you need to make a name for yourself and you want to be out there, I guess that’s a sacrifice you have to make. But it hurts you as a martial artist and that’s what I want to do is be a good martial artist and compete in other things.
“I have a very strong interest in doing kickboxing matches because I want to test stand up just in the stand up realm,” he continued. “I have asked [about this] … I haven’t had a reply back. Business as usual. So when I get done with the suspension I’ll fight out my contract and move onto other places afterward.”
Of course Mir famously blamed Kangaroo Meat for the flagged test.
Mir talked about potential reasons for the failed drug test, and also blames kangaroo meat that he ate in Australia (Transcript Bloody Elbow):
“I couldn’t tell you a single restaurant I remember eating at. I even remember calling James and saying ‘do you remember where we ate?’ I had to write down all of the places we went. And even if I could figure it out; let’s say someone could document where I went. You’re telling me USADA are gonna go down, and, on my behalf, try to test all the different meats to see if, well, you know, kanagaroos are wild and this guy wanted to beef em’ up so he bought something that was very abudnant – in the study that I did – oral turinabol could be bought in powdered form.
You put it on the food and you bulk up your livestock, and you could sell it into the stores because now you get more bang for your buck. An animal that takes two years to reach maturity, you know, muscle weight, now in four months he’s bigger than he’s ever gonna be and you slaughter him. It’s a common practice. I don’t know, I’m not pointing the finger any where, I’m just saying there’s so many loopholes for me to sit there and go ‘where did it come from?’ Hell man, I don’t know, I really don’t. All I know is that I didn’t willingly take anything.”
