In 2014, UFC featherweight Yair Rodriguez won Won TUF: Latin America, and then won five in a row, earning four performances. Then “El Pantera” got TKO’d by Frankie Edgar in 2017, and was released briefly in 2018, reportedly for refusing fights. Next, he returned 18 months after the loss with a KO win over Chan Sung Jung, winning Fight of the Night, a performance bonus; it was one of the greatest Kos in MMA history.
Nearly a year passed, and a fight vs. Jeremy Stephens ended in a No Contest due to an accidental eye poke. The pair rematched on October 18, 2019, with Rodriguez winning a Unanimous Decision, and his fourth Fight of the Night in his nine UFC fights. Unfortunately, a fight planned for the summer vs. Zabit Magomedsharipov fell through due to an ankle injury, so it has been over a year since Rodriguez fought. At the UFC on ESPN 18 post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White said it’s going to be a while longer, but, mysteriously, wouldn’t say why.
Now USADA has announced the reason.
Yair Rodriguez, of Chihuahua, Mexico, has accepted a six-month sanction for a violation of the UFC® Anti-Doping Policy resulting from three Whereabouts Failures during a 12-month period.
Like all UFC athletes, Rodriguez, 28, is a member of the UFC Registered Testing Pool and is therefore subject to certain Whereabouts responsibilities, which allow him to be located for testing. Accurate Whereabouts information is a crucial component of an effective out-of-competition testing program because it enables anti-doping organizations to conduct no-notice sample collections, which helps maintain effective doping deterrence and detection.
Rodriguez failed to update his Whereabouts information and was unavailable for testing at locations provided in his Whereabouts Filings on three occasions. He accrued a Whereabouts Failure in each of the first three quarters of 2020. The accumulation of three Whereabouts Failures within a 12-month period constitutes a policy violation under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy.
Rodriguez was eligible for a reduction in the period of ineligibility because his conduct did not raise suspicion that he was trying to avoid being available for testing. He received reductions based on his degree of fault and for his Full and Complete Cooperation.
Rodriguez’s six-month period of ineligibility began on September 8, 2020, the date on which his third Whereabouts Failure was declared against him.
So expect “El Pantera” to fight some time shortly after March 8. 2021.
