Junior Dos Santos issues statement on potential doping violation

One of the most anticipated features of UFC 215, which is scheduled for September 9 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, was a heavyweight tilt pitting former champion Junior Dos Santos against surging contender Francis Ngannou. Regrettably, this fight was nixed when Dos Santos was notified of a potential anti-doping violation.

Dos Santos’ team was quick to maintain his innocence in the wake of this news, and now, the fighter himself as done the same. In a statement issued on Instagram, Dos Santos assured, “the truth will prevail.”

Oi pessoal Eu não estou aqui para dar explicações, logo tudo será esclarecido para todos vocês e sem duvidas que a verdade prevalecerá. Eu estou aqui em respeito a todos vocês. Eu só quero que saibam que essa situação tem sido bastante difícil para mim, meu time e minha família. Eu nunca trapacearia, isso vai contra tudo o que acredito e apoio. Nós estamos investigando isso a fundo e logo descobriremos o que aconteceu, aprenderemos com isso e seguiremos em frente. Mas eu espero que em um futuro próximo, Francis Ngannou e eu possamos nos enfrentar e dar a vocês, a luta que estavam esperando ver. Por agora, muito obrigado por todo seu apoio, isso significa muito para mim e é por isso que estou aqui. Boa noite.

A post shared by Junior Cigano Dos Santos (@junior_cigano) on Aug 19, 2017 at 11:20pm PDT

“I’m not here to give an explanation,” Dos Santos said in his post (h/t MMAJunkie.com). “Soon, everything will be clear to all of you and no doubt – truth will prevail. I’m here in respect for all of you guys. I just want to say that this situation is very tough for me, my team and my family. And I would never cheat. It goes against everything I stand for. I play a fair game. We will get to the bottom of this, figure out what happened, learn from it and move on. And I hope in the near future, Francis Ngannou and me can face each other and give you guys the show you were expecting. For now, thank you very much for your support. It means a lot to me, and that’s why I’m here.”

What do you think of this statement from Junior Dos Santos?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 8/20/2017.