We may be seeing one of the more prolific MMA fighters call it a career. While no formal announcement has been made, there are rumors that Brock Lesnar has informed the UFC that he is retiring. He was removed from the USADA drug testing pool, which makes it more than likely that he is no longer involved with the UFC. It was reported last week that he was going to be removed from the UFC’s unofficial roster on their website.
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He was suspended last July for one year after it was discovered that he tested positive for a banned substance called clomiphene. He was eligible to return to the UFC around July 15, 2017. However, it should be noted that his suspension has now been frozen since he is longer in the drug testing pool. If he chooses to return to the UFC, he will be forced to serve the remainder of his suspension which is another five months from when he decides to return. Also if he does decide to return to the UFC, there is a bit of process that he would need to go through since he was serving a suspension.
According to the UFC Anti-Doping Policy: all UFC athletes serving a period of ineligibility for an anti-doping policy violation are required to remain in the USADA testing pool and need to make themselves available for testing in order to receive any sort of credit for time served under the fighter’s sanction. Also, the USADA released a statement regarding Brock Lesnar that read, “ Furthermore, if an athlete retires during their period of ineligibility, the athlete will be frozen until they notify the USADA of his or her decision to return from retirement.”
It should be noted that Brock Lesnar returned to the octagon at UFC 200 in Las Vegas after being away from the sport for close to five years. He had his return fight be against Mark Hunt and he ended up failing two different drug tests prior to the bout. It should be noted that the last one he took prior to his UFC 200 fight was not returned to the UFC until after the event, so that was why he was allowed to fight. He is set to continue his WWE career as he is set to fight Goldberg at Wrestlemania 33 in Orlando in April.