USADA announced on Friday that an independent arbitrator has rendered a decision in the case of former UFC athlete Chi Lewis-Parry, of Surrey, United Kingdom, and determined that Lewis-Parry should receive a four-year period of ineligibility for anti-doping policy violations that he committed while he was in the UFC program. This decision comes after the facts of the case were presented and fully argued at an evidentiary hearing on November 10, 2020.

Lewis-Parry is undefeated in mixed martial arts with a 9-0-2 record. He has fought for ONE Championship, GLORY Kickboxing, and is the current UAE Warriors heavyweight champion.

He had planned to fight for the UFC, entering the fight promotion’s anti-doping program under USADA, but violated the policy prior to ever fighting for the UFC.

Lewis-Parry, 37, tested positive for the following substances as the result of out-of-competition tests on September 12, 2019 and September 19, 2019:

• Drostanolone and its metabolites 2α-methyl-5α-androstan-3α-ol-17-one and 2α-methyl-5α-androstan-3β,17β-diol;
• Stanozolol metabolites 3′-hydroxy-17-epistanozolol-O-glucuronide and 3′-hydroxystanozolol-O-glucuronide;
• Metabolites of dehydrochloromethyltestosterone (DHCMT) or similar 4-chloro-17α-methyl substituted anabolic steroid

The above are non-Specified Substances in the class of Anabolic Agents and are prohibited at all times under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy and UFC Prohibited List.

Upon being added to the UFC Anti-Doping Program, athletes are required to declare prohibited substances they have used in the previous 12 months. An athlete who makes such declaration will not be deemed to have committed a violation but, depending on the substance, may be required to refrain from competition for a period of at least six months and provide at least two negative samples. Lewis-Parry did not declare the use of drostanolone, stanozolol, or DHCMT on his onboarding declaration forms. Subsequent to his positive tests but before competing in any UFC bout, Lewis-Parry was released from the program.

In its investigation into the circumstances of the case, USADA also discovered that Lewis-Parry presented falsified evidence, specifically an adulterated supplement, to USADA and the arbitrator in support of the athlete’s claims that the prohibited substances had originated from a contaminated supplement.

Under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, deceitful or obstructive conduct intended to avoid the detection or adjudication of an anti-doping policy violation may be regarded as aggravating circumstances, which can lead to an increased period of ineligibility. In this case, the independent arbitrator concluded that Lewis-Parry’s conduct warranted an increase from the standard two-year period of ineligibility for a first offense, to the maximum four-year period of ineligibility due to aggravating circumstances.

The arbitrator concluded, “[a]lthough the 4 year period where aggravating circumstances are present is a maximum, not a mandatory period I consider on the basis of the facts as I find them, that [Lewis-Parry] has sought to muddy the waters from first to last both prior to and during this Arbitration by provision of false evidence. 4 years is therefore in principle proportionate and appropriate.”

Lewis-Parry’s four-year period of ineligibility began on November 1, 2019, the date on which he was provisionally suspended from competition. The arbitrator’s decision can be found here, along with all other UFC Anti-Doping Policy arbitral decisions.

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Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/former-ufc-fighter-and-uae-heavyweight-champ-chi-lewis-perry-handed-4-year-usada-sanction

You’ve got to do something pretty special to earn yourself a title shot after just two performances on the big stage, but South Africa’s Bokang Masunyane may have done just that.

The 26-year-old from Cape Town made his ONE Championship debut in December 2019 and scored a unanimous decision victory over Ryuto Sawada to get his ONE career off and running.

Then, on Friday, almost one year to the day since that fight, “Little Giant” made his return to the ONE Championship cage and immediately pushed his claims for a shot at strawweight gold.

At ONE Championship 122 in Singapore, Masunyane (8-0) faced Filipino contender Rene Catalan (6-4), whose last fight saw him unsuccessfully challenge for the title in November 2011, and the relative newcomer delivered a moment to remember by adding another stunning finish to 2020’s highlight reel.

Trading on the feet with the wushu expert, Masunyane threw with heat and, after the pair separated from a brief clinch, the South African connected with a huge left high kick that knocked out Catalan long before he hit the canvas.

Watch this (via Twitter):

Bokang Masunyane 🇿🇦 SHELLACKS third-ranked Rene Catalan with a crazy head kick KO! 🤯 @LittleGiant_Bk #ONEBigBang #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/ciW6hclIXp

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) December 4, 2020

It was a statement performance, and Masunyane followed up on his performance with a clear message in his post-fight interview.

“I’m the best in my division,” he declared with a smile.

“I’d like to challenge the champion. And if the champion is not ready, No. 1 (contender), No. 2, I’m always ready. But I’ve got my eye on the title. Give me the title shot!”

After a performance like that, a matchup with reigning strawweight champion Joshua Pacio may come sooner, rather than later.

The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2020/12/one-championship-122-bokang-masunyane-huge-head-kick-knockout-video

DN: What led to you deciding to sign with PFL?

CS: Actually, it was the conversation I had with PFL owner Peter Murray to see what his plans would be for me. If he had said your first fight would be against Kayla Harrison, and it’s a one-fight deal with us and then go back to boxing, I would have just hung up the phone. The conversation was great. The money was lucrative. My reputation is all I have. I worked very hard to get here and be a multi-time world champion. I’ll be fighting MMA. The tournament is where you fight for a million dollars, but that gives me time to start training. The best way for me is to make that transition and not have to be rushed. I like the PFL because you control your own destiny. If you make it to where you can fight for a million dollars, the owner who makes that decision can’t say, ‘Hey, yeah, you know, you don’t deserve a million dollars because we don’t think you’re big enough.’ You work your way up there in PFL and now you have a chance.

I’ve done everything in boxing that you can do. I’ve been a world champion. I’m currently a world champion, undisputed, and hold all titles, have titles in multiple divisions, undefeated, and still not given a fair shake. I have to keep demanding, yelling at them and saying, ‘This is my worth. This is what I’m worth. This is what I deserve.’ You got to keep doing it. It just gets tiring because I still have to train for the fight. I still have to fight my opponent. Then on the flip side, I got a fight with these networks to just be treated fairly. It just gets stressful sometimes.

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/lists/claressa-shields-boxing-sexist-compared-to-mma-pfl-ufc

With Artem Lobov looking to enter the world of boxing in 2021, he wants to secure the bag before calling it quits.

Lobov is set to make his MMA return on Dec. 12 when he faces Ylies Djiroun for the lightweight title in the main event of ARENA FIGHT 2, but is looking to dabble in yet another combat sport next year.

The UFC veteran, who recently made the transition to bare-knuckle boxing, picked up two high-profile wins over Jason Knight and Pauli Malignaggi during his tenure there.

But throughout all his experiences immersing in different combat sports, Lobov sees boxing as the route to the biggest paydays.

“I’m only going to be fighting for two more years and I would like to secure a good future for my family,” Lobov told MMA Junkie Radio. “I’ve been getting six figures for quite some time now, and life is good on six figures. But if you want to secure a good future for the family, you have to be hitting those seven-figure paydays, and I feel the easiest way to do it, if not the only way to do it, is through boxing.

“So I had some interesting proposals at the start of 2020, but corona(virus) (expletive) everything up for me. So I’m hoping to pick up right where I left off. And yes, I will be training MMA because it will make sure that I’m ready for any other combat sport. But yeah, I will definitely be looking toward boxing for sure.”

With YouTube sensation-turned-pro boxer Jake Paul calling out teammates Conor McGregor and Dillon Danis, Lobov is willing to answer the call if offered in what he sees as an easy payday.

“I have absolutely nothing to gain from beating that guy other than financial gains,” Lobov said. “So if they give me the paycheck that I’m happy with, I don’t care. I can whoop Jake Paul or his brother or whoever else in the family wants to get it. They can get it.”

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2020/12/artem-lobov-seven-figure-paydays-boxing-jake-paul-mma

A few months ago, footage of Nick Diaz training for a UFC comeback surfaced on social media. His manager, Kevin Mubenga, insisted that Diaz was aiming to make a comeback.

Several months into Diaz’s training, in recent comments to Fanatics View, Mubenga once again reiterated that Diaz will be back in the Octagon in 2021.

“The guy has been training. He’s been training for at least four months now,” said Mubenga.

“He took a little break (in November) and now we’re going to pick it back up in December and go into the new year hopefully with a new deal done. Make sure the money is right and the opponent is right and we’ll be able to move forward with all of this.”

The last time Diaz set foot in the Octagon was opposite Anderson Silva in the UFC 183 main event in January of 2015. Silva initially won the bout, but the results was later changed to a no contest after Silva tested positive for steroids and Diaz tested positive for marijuana.

He has since been watching from the outside looking in, while many fans of his and brother Nate have been clamoring for his return.

Nate hasn’t been much more active than his older brother, having fought just four times over the five-year span since Nick faced Silva. Nate did, however, fight two times in the latter half of 2019.

UFC president Dana White has been skeptical of Nick’s return, but considering that he has such a strong fan base, he would surely welcome it.

The UFC and the Diaz brothers coming to terms has always been a struggle, however, and that is certainly something that could hinder a Nick Diaz return in 2021. Mubenga believes there is little chance of that, though, believing there is a 99.99 percent chance that Diaz fights next year.

“We just got to get everything else right with the organization and everything. We’ll be able to move forward.”

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Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/manager-sure-nick-diaz-will-return-to-the-ufc-in-2021