If you believe some of the more cynical fans of the sports’ take on the Brock Lesnar situation, the WWE Superstar came into the UFC knowing he’d probably fail a drug test. But because he was always going to be one and done with his “comeback,” that failure wouldn’t affect him very much. This isn’t a belief that’s just held by lowly trolls on a couple of message boards. Even his UFC 200 opponent Mark Hunt believes it.
But in reality, Lesnar seems just as shocked as the rest of us that two of his USADA tests came back positive for clomiphene, and his people are currently testing all sorts of items in Brock’s life to try and determine what the hell happened. Via MMA Junkie:
“We are still investigating this matter (which investigation includes the ongoing testing of products used by Mr. Lesnar prior to the date of the positive test),” wrote Howard Jacobs, a prominent anti-doping attorney representing Lesnar, in a letter dated Sept. 19. “To provide further detail, I am advised that the testing laboratory (Korva Labs) initially tested an eye medication, which was negative for either clomiphene or clomiphene metabolites. Subsequent testing has been conducted on a foot cream; that testing has included three separate extraction attempts, all of which have failed. A fourth extraction attempt is being made by Korva Labs this week.”
Why keep trying to extract and test the foot cream when you can just find some clean guy, slather him up in the stuff, and then test him again? But who are we to tell Jacobs how to do his job? He’s a high profile doping lawyer who’s been representing UFC fighters with failed drug tests for over a decade now. And while he’s not always good enough to get his fighters off the suspension hook, he certainly does an admirable job of muddying the waters enough that you’re no longer quite so certain his client actually did the performance enhancing drugs he’s been accused of.
Clomiphene is designed to encourage the body’s natural production of testosterone but is still considered a banned substance under USADA rules. Lesnar currently faces a one or two year ban from mixed martial arts unless his lawyer Jacobs manages to track down a substance tainted with the substance. Other UFC fighters such as Yoel Romero and Tim Means have successfully proven this and gotten their suspensions shortened from two years to nine months. More importantly, they’ve repaired their reputation, something we’re sure the previously clean Brock Lesnar would love to do.
