Fabricio Werdum's USADA suspension reduced by 10 months; Brazilian is eligible for a return this April
Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Fabricio Werdum was suspended by USADA on May 22nd, 2018 following a violation of the Doping test program. USADA put out a statement at the time saying:
Werdum, 41, tested positive for trenbolone and its metabolite epitrenbolone following an out-of-competition urine test conducted on April 25, 2018. Trenbolone 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 Prohibited List.
The Brazilian fomer Heavyweight Champion has been on the sidelines since and even claimed to be retired. However, that doesn't appear to be the case anymore. USADA released a statement revealing that his suspension had been reduced by 10 months due to "assistance" provided to the Anti-Doping agency recently:
“Werdum, 42, received a reduction from the otherwise applicable period of ineligibility due to substantial assistance. Under the applicable rules, an athlete facing a period of ineligibility who provides information that leads to the discovery of another violation or which results in a criminal or disciplinary body discovering an offense, is eligible for a sanction reduction.”
In short, Werdum snitched to USADA, revealing other potential violators to get his suspension term reduced. This is usually seen as a very dishonorable thing among fellow-fighters, with Mirko Cro Cop admitting that during his suspension, he refused the opportunity to snitch.
It's believed that Jon Jones had done something similar when under the eye of USADA and naturally, that attracted more criticism than required - especially given Jones is a controversial figure.
Either way, it's going to be interesting to see what's next for Fabricio Werdum. One would imagine that he will be facing a lower-ranked Heavyweight opponent to get back in the mix. Whether or not he can still hang with the best of the Heavyweights at the age of 42 is yet to be seen.