The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced a nine-month suspension for middleweight Chris Leben after he was found out to be positive for the banned drug steroid stanozolol according to Los Angeles Times report. UFC President Dana White said that Leben was detected for using stanozolol after he had a pre and postfight urinalysis. The suspension of Leben was first reported by Yahoo Sports writer Dave Meltzer before it was followed by the news released at the UFC.com.

Sheerdog.com though reported in detail that the positive test result of Leben was the outcome of an independent test directed by the promotion of UFC, which was followed by the unanimous decision of his victory over Michael Bisping in the presented bout at UFC 89 last October 18 in Birmingham, England. And apart from a nine-month punishment, he will also fined one-third of his award money from the Bisping fight.

The report published in Sheerdog.com stated that there is an absence of regulatory body in mixed martial arts in UK that performs drug testing; hence, the UFC conducts its own testing for the players in every event they held. Meanwhile, the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) Executive Director Keith Kizer said that the commission would deal with the issue whether they will recognize Leben’s nine-month suspension when the need arises. “If we had proof of [a positive test], whether it be from a regulatory body, a promotion or another third party, I’m sure this would be something the commission would want to look into,“ Kizer said.

Kizer also added that in case Leben would want to fight in Nevada again, he will be required to undergo into a clean pre-fight test first. Meanwhile, White expressed her dismay to what happened to Leben saying, “I am obviously disappointed with Chris, who has made great strides getting his life back on track.” “To his credit, he has taken responsibility for his actions and is accepting the punishment that has been handed down. But as always, the UFC puts the safety of its athletes first and foremost, we won’t tolerate anyone using performance enhancing drugs in our organization,” she stressed. Despite of her disappointment though, White was still able to recognize the braveness of Leben for facing his fault. ESPN.com report featured her words that say, “He was a total man about it, he apologized and he even said, ‘I can’t believe I did this, I got my life together.’”

Leben really admitted taking the banned drug according to ESPN.com report saying, “I’m an idiot. That’s the bottom line. I took the stuff months before the fight; I tried to put on some muscle mass. I stopped, then went into training camp, and didn’t realize it would stay on my system.”

Similarly, Chris Leben also mentioned his regret to what he has done.“I’ve really done everything I can turn my life around, and this is a huge setback for me, but it is something I have to deal with. During my time off from fighting, I want to speak to kids about the dangers of using performance-enhancing agents and let them know it just doesn’t get you ahead in life,” he added. This will make me look bad, but I will still do it,” he said finally.

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