Lyoto Machida releases statement on banned substance usage

News broke Wednesday afternoon that former UFC champion Lyoto Machida had been pulled from his fight with Dan Henderson on Saturday after admitting to using a banned substance during a random out-of-competition drug test.

Machida released a video statement on his Instagram in Portuguese, which included the following message in english as a caption:

I’m here to tell you that I was caught by surprise by this news. It has been very dificult for me. I’ve trained a lot for this fight, I’ve dedicated a lot with all my team mates. I want to tell you that I really didn’t know about this substance, so I listed it on my declaration form amongst everything else I was taking, and this substance was recently banned in 2016, so I take the blame for not knowing that, and I’d like to say I’m really sorry and apologize to my fans, team mates, and my family… I always try to play by the book, but unfortunately this happened. — The supplement used by Lyoto was 7-Keto, that contains the substance DHEA, found in products sold at supplement stores and very popular among athletes from various spots.

Dan Henderson, who was extremely pissed about the situation, will be re-booked for a fight in the future on a different card.