Junior dos Santos' manager releases statement, denies PED use

Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos was removed from a UFC 215 bout against Francis Ngannou due to a potential USADA violation. But his team denies the fighter took any banned substance.

The UFC announced Friday that the Brazilian was removed from the Sept. 9 card in Edmonton, Canada. Shortly thereafter, manager Ana Guedes released a statement to MMA Fighting on the situation.

"We are still trying to understand the test results, so that we can investigate and determine what happened,” the statement read. "What we know as of now is that Junior dos Santos has never taken PEDs, has never knowingly used any banned substances, and has always supported USADA's policies and efforts to keep the sport clean.

"If ever there was a fighter who made his position on this issue unequivocal, it's Junior. We are confident that that we will be able to figure out what happened, and will provide an explanation once we have one.”

The UFC has yet to announce a new opponent for Ngannou.

“Cigano" (18-5) has fought 16 times under the UFC banner since signing with the promotion in 2008, winning the heavyweight championship in 2011 and successfully defending it once. According to the USADA website, dos Santos was tested eight times already in 2017, more than the entire year of 2016 (seven).