Guido Cannetti pulled from UFN 98 following flagged test

Argentinian welterweight Guido Cannetti has announced via his social network that he was pulled from UFC Fight Night 98 after a potential doping violation.

The UFC organization was notified today that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has informed Guido Cannetti of a potential anti-doping violation stemming from an out-of-competition sample collected on Oct. 5, 2016, said the UFC in a statement to MMAjunkie. USADA has provisionally suspended Cannetti based on the potential anti-doping violation.

USADA, the independent administrator of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, will handle the results management and appropriate adjudication of this case. It is important to note that, under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, there is a full, fair legal review process that is afforded to all athletes before any sanctions are imposed. Consistent with all previous potential anti-doping violations, additional information or UFC statements will be provided at the appropriate time as the process moves forward.

The second paragraph is not a polite way of saying Cannetti is guilty as hell. Some fighters have had a test flagged and later been found not culpable. For example, Li Jingliang, Ning Guangyou, and Augusto Montano tested positive for clenbuterol, but USADA found they ingested the substance without fault or negligence, and were cleared to fight immediately following the investigation. And, of course, other fighters, most recently Adam Hunter, were found to be responsible and suspended for the full two years. Still others fall in between.

Cannetti was adamant that he did not knowingly ingest any prohibited substance.

“Today they informed me that I will not fight because there is a banned substance in the analysis I did,” he wrote in Spanish. “I swear I did not take anything with a banned substance. …. I swear by my family I did not take any prohibited substance.”

The fighter also lamented that he had paid the costs of a camp, and was now out of a fight.

The UFC is currently exploring whether a replacement to fight Beltran can be arranged.

‘Ninja’ had been scheduled to fight Marco Beltran on the FOX Sports 1 prelims of UFN 98, on November 5, at Mexico City Arena, in Mexico City, Mexico.

Main Card (FS1, 10 p.m. ET)
Rafael dos Anjos vs. Tony Ferguson
Marcin Held vs. Diego Sanchez
Ricardo Lamas vs. Charles Oliveira
Beneil Dariush vs. Rashid Magomedov
Heather Jo Clark vs. Alexa Grasso
Martin Bravo vs. Claudio Puelles
Prelim Card (FS1, 8 p.m. ET)
Felipe Arantes vs. Erik Perez
Marco Beltran vs. TBA
Max Griffin vs. Erick Montano
Henry Briones vs. Douglas Silva de Andrade
Prelim Card (UFC Fight Pass, 6:30 p.m. ET)
Sam Alvey vs. Alex Nicholson
Marco Polo Reyes vs. Jason Novelli
Chris Avila vs. Enrique Barzola