MMAVu

Dave Meltzer of Yahoo Sports is reporting that the UFC has suspended Chris Leben for nine months and fined him one-third of his fight purse following a positive drug test after his UFC 89 Main Event fight with Michael Bisping, back on October 18th at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England. Leben tested positive for the steroid Stanozolol. While England has no formal athletic commission for this sort of test, the UFC relied on the former head of NSAC, Marc Ratner, now their Vice President, for their own in house test.

Here’s a quote from Leben on the situation:

I’ve really done everything I can to turn my life around, and this is a huge setback for me, but it is something I will have to deal with. During my time off from fighting, I want to speak to kids about the dangers of using performance enhancing agents and let them know it just doesn’t get you ahead in life. Of course this is a hard hit for me monetarily, but more so this is embarrassing for me and for all of my fans.

This is a major setback for Leben, who was just beginning to put together an impressive run within the UFC and mature as a person.