According to California State Athletic Commission Executive Officer George Dodd, Chael Sonnen has been notified that he failed post-fight drug screening following his loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 117, which was held Aug. 7 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif.

[Sonnen] received his notice yesterday, Dodd told Sherdog.com shortly after the Shane Mosley-Sergio Mora boxing match ended Saturday night in Los Angeles.

In a conversation the day before, Dodd declined to comment on the situation, other than answering that all fighters from UFC 117 had passed drugs-of-abuse scans, but that the commission was still waiting on performance-enhancing drug screens from the event.

Dodd did not state which banned substance was red-flagged, but with a clean drugs-of-abuse scan it is clear the positive test was for a performance-enhancing substance.

The last major UFC banned-substance case in the state centered on UFC 73’s lightweight title match, which saw both competitors — Sean Sherk and Hermes Franca — test positive for PEDs. Both fighters were suspended for one year and fined, though Sherk appealed and had his suspension shortened to six months.

Sonnen is staring at a long layoff if he elects not to appeal or is denied. He was scheduled to rematch Silva Feb. 6 in Las Vegas, but that fight may be delayed or scrapped in light of these allegations.

Text messages to Sonnen went unreturned.

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