...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Cung Le has no more need to appeal, as the UFC opted on Tuesday to rescind the 12-month suspension they issued earlier this month.
A drug test administered around his fight with Michael Bisping in Macau in August at UFC Fight Night 48 revealed an elevated level of HGH. However, the procedures used in the testing of his sample - as well as the fact that the lab itself wasn't a WADA-accredited lab - led to concern over the validity of the tests.
Additionally, there were other reasons outside of PED use which could have explained the elevated HGH level. That was to be the basis for Le's appeal, but the UFC announced on Tuesday that they've decided to be proactive after receiving more information.
"Following the announcement of Le's suspension, UFC officials have been provided with medical advice regarding the elevated total HGH present in Le's system. In accordance with such medical advice, UFC has determined that Le's elevated total HGH by itself does not prove that he took performance-enhancing drugs before the August 23 bout. As a result, UFC has informed Le that his suspension is rescinded.
Le had requested an appeal of his suspension, and was entitled to arbitrate the drug test results and suspension. However, based on the lack of conclusive laboratory results, UFC officials deemed it appropriate to immediately rescind the suspension without the need for further proceedings."
Penick's Analysis: The UFC had to make this move. The testing done ultimately wasn't acceptable, and Le would have deserved an over-turning of the suspension in arbitration had it gone to that point. Being proactive here avoids things getting messier for them, and is simply the right thing to do when the testing used wasn't up to the standard it needs to be to have this system work. This doesn't mean that Le was absolutely clean into the fight with Bisping, and people can and will continue to have their suspicions, but this was a sign that the testing done by the UFC in this case failed to prove anything.
DON'T GO YET... WE SUGGEST THESE MMATORCH ARTICLES, TOO!
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.
