It seems like drugs in sports aren’t just confined to boxing, cycling, baseball, and soccer these days as mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Jake Shields of the UFC has been banned from competing for six months after failing a drug test.
The Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies' Boxing Commission handed down the half-year suspension on Oct. 12 after Shields failed his post-fight drug test at UFC 150 in Denver in a bout against Ed Herman.
Shields won the match by a unanimous decision and the UFC has announced yet if that win will be overturned, stricken off his record or changed to a no contest. The specific type of banned substance that was found in the fighter’s system wasn’t announced and he quickly released a press statement apologizing to his fans and the UFC.
The middleweight fighter is well known in the UFC for his loss against welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre of Quebec, Canada. In the apology to the fans, Shields said he used a prohibited substance before his fight with Herman at UFC 150 and it was a big mistake that he truly regrets.
He said he has apologized to the UFC and his family and is taking this opportunity to apologize to everybody else who has supported him during his MMA career. He then promised that this will be the first and last time that he ever fails a drug test.
Shields also said he takes full responsibility for his actions and accepts the suspension from the Colorado boxing commission. He asked the fans to accept his apology and said he hopes they will continue to support him until he can fight again when the suspension expires next February.
Many fans are curious as to what the banned substance was, but Shields hasn’t revealed that information as of yet and the commission has also kept mum on the topic. However, its’ expected that the information and details will soon be added to the database of the Association of Boxing Commissions.
The fight against Herman took place at the Pepsi Center in Denver on Aug. 11 with Shields raising his MMA record to 28-6-1 after the victory. His UFC record stands at 3-2. Herman’s MMA record dropped to 20-8 and his UFC record fell to 7-6. It was Shields’ second consecutive victory and his first fight back in the middleweight division after testing the waters in the welterweight division.
Since Shields was moving back up in weight it’s doubtful that the banned substance was any type of diuretic which is used by people to help lose or control their weight. This was the first time that the 33-year-old Shields has failed a drug test. He joined up with the UFC back in 2010 and was previously the middleweight champion in the Strikeforce MMA organization.
