Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen are going to be headlining this months Bellator 180 pay-per-view event from New York.
When it comes to the topic of drug testing, the CEO of Bellator MMA in Scott Coker has assured fans and the media that the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) is testing the fighters.
“Both fighters have been tested recently for out-of-competition testing,” Coker said at a Bellator 180 media event. “Those test results will be back I want to say any day now.”
Laz Benitez, who is a part of the NYSAC, also confirmed recently that both Silva and Sonnen are going to be dealing with out of competition drug tests, as well as in competition drug tests.
The two fighters were originally set to meet during their days in the UFC, at UFC 175 to be exact, but both fighters had USADA-related issues before the fight and their encounter was eventually canceled by the promotion.
Sonnen did serve a two year suspension from 2014 to 2016 after testing positive for a banned substances over a multitude of drug tests conducted by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC). Silva was also suspended for over a year by the NSAC after he allegedly ran away from an on site drug test prior to UFC 175.
To make things a little more interesting for both fighters, the NYSAC is taking the costs from all potential drug tests out of the paychecks the fighters are going to be earning at Bellator 180.
Bellator 180 takes place on Saturday, June 24 from Madison Square Garden in New York, New York with Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
