Light heavyweight fighter Ion Cutelaba has been notified by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) of a potential violation and he has been pulled from UFC 217.
According to MMA Fighting, the fighter made voluntary disclosures about out of competition samples collected this past October.
USADA has already issued a provisional suspension to the fighter, a full punishment is going to be revealed at some point in the future.
The UFC issued the following statement on the matter:
The UFC organization was notified today that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has informed Ion Cutelaba of a potential Anti-Doping Policy violation stemming from its investigation into voluntary disclosures by Cutelaba during an out-of-competition sample collections on October 18 and October 19, 2017. USADA has provisionally suspended Cutelaba and his fight against Michal Oleksiejczuk has been cancelled from the November 4, 2017, UFC 217 fight card.
USADA, the independent administrator of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, will handle the results management and appropriate adjudication of this case involving Cutelaba. Under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, there is a full and fair legal process that is afforded to all athletes before any sanctions are imposed. Additional information will be provided at the appropriate time as the process moves forward.
Cutelaba was expected to fight Michal Oleksiejczuk at UFC 217, but now Oleksiejczuk has been pulled from the card as well because the UFC cannot find him a new opponent in due time.
Due to the fight cancelation, the UFC 217 card is now set to begin at 7pm EST. and the first two bouts will stream live on UFC Fight Pass.
