James Mulheron Releases Statement Following His Removal From UFC Shanghai After A USADA Test Failure
UFC heavyweight James Mulheron has released a statement following his removal from the UFC Shanghai fight card this weekend after a recent out of competition USADA drug test failure.
Mulheron was set to take on French heavyweight Cyril Asker on the undercard of the UFC’s first ever event in Shanghai, China, in what would have been his second fight for the promotion.
On Friday, the news broke that Mulheron had been removed from the card due to a USADA violation and just 24-hours later, the heavyweight took to his Facebook page to address what had happened:
“Last night I was made aware that I had been pulled from the UFC Shanghai card, due to a tainted substance being found in my recent out of competition USADA test.
Everyone who knows me, will no there is not a chance on this earth of me jeprodising my career, in any way shape or form, to fight on the first UFC event ever here in Shanghai would be absoultly insane.
I know the rules and by god I would not consider breaking them for nothing and nobody.
We are working hard to resolve this and find out what is going on here, with USADA testing randomly in and out of competition, and all my recent tests coming back fine, it’s safe to say something has drastically gone wrong.
We are now working with USADA to examine all my current off the shelf supplements, purchased from reputable national retailers.
I have to apologise to all my fans/friends/family, I know this is terrible news, but we must get to the bottom of this and move forward, I want this cleared up and hoping to be on the next UFC event soon as possible.
Thank you to all my sponsors for the continued support.”
Mulheron has a record of 11-2 and made his UFC debut in July when he faced Justin Willis at UFC Fight Night 113 in Glasgow, Scotland.
The Englishman had previously competed in Bellator in 2016 and was the reigning Made4TheCage European heavyweight champion when he was called up to the UFC earlier in the year.
Mulheron, like all the other athletes who have been flagged by the USADA program, will now have to go through the process of trying to prove his innonce by supplying samples of his recent supplements. If he is unable to do this, he could be facing a lengthy time on the sidelines.
