[holyintellect]

Antonio Silva, who was recently crowned EliteXC's first-ever heavyweight champion, has been suspended one year and fined $2,500 for his alleged use of the anabolic steroid Boldenone.

The California State Athletic Commission alerted MMAjunkie.com of the news today via email.

Silva (11-1) scored a second-round TKO of Justin Eilers at EliteXC's July 26 "Unfinished Business" event in Stockton, Calif., but he failed a drug test administered by the CSAC at the event.

[Rodja]

I take a CSAC positive test with a grain of salt.

[jas123]

Yeah, I saw that. He was EXC's only potentially legit HW. The dude has surgery to get his pituitary tumor removed so he can fight and then puts himself on the shelf for a year.

[robdog]

**** California and their bullshit testing............im sick of this ****. Too many good fighters are being benched because of this crap.

[bigwhiteguy29]

I wonder how much of the amout was found. Sometimes theres barley a trace but its enough that no human can make. Also shamrock is ****ed i hope hes detoxing hahaha

[jas123]

This seems really sketchy. I guess you aren't innocent until proven guilty.

#####################

LOS ANGELES -- The California State Athletic Commission on Wednesday upheld the one-year suspension of Antonio Silva at an appeals hearing for the EliteXC heavyweight champion.

Silva was suspended by the state agency after testing positive for suspected use of the anabolic agent Boldenone following his July 26 EliteXC victory over Justin Eilers.

After listening to evidence from the 28-year-old Brazilian’s attorney, Howard Jacobs, a 5-0 unanimous vote was cast by board members that will keep Silva out of action until July 27.

The decision will not affect Silva’s heavyweight title with the Pro Elite-owned EliteXC promotion. Pro Elite closed its doors on Monday due to lack of funds. It is believed the Los Angeles-based company has filed for bankruptcy.

In a brief opening statement, Silva stated that his medical condition makes it too dangerous for him to take steroids. The 6-foot-4, nearly 300-pound fighter suffers from the chronic disease, acromegaly, which causes enlargement of the extremities and face due to an overactive pituitary gland.

Silva’s defense centered around the fighter’s use of the over-the-counter nutritional supplement Novodex, which has been documented to cause false positives for Boldenone.


Esther Lin/Sherdog.com


Antonio Silva's suspension
was upheld on Wednesday.Novodex, which contains the testosterone booster ATD, is currently not included on the CSAC’s list of banned substances. Through his translator and manager, Alex Davis, Silva said he’d taken the supplement for four weeks prior to the bout.

Silva (11-1) did not disclose his use of Novodex on a mandatory pre-fight questionnaire submitted to the commission, though Jacobs pointed out that the form was presented to the Portuguese-speaking fighter in English. Davis stated that he had assisted Silva with portions of his questionnaire and wrote down the word “multivitamins” when Silva said he’d ingested supplements.

Jacobs also presented clean test results for an independent specimen Silva sent to the AEGIS laboratory in Florida on Sept. 3, approximately 40 days after his state-administered test.

“As stated in Dr. Black’s declaration, the half-life of Boldenone is very long,” explained Jacobs to the commission. “It’s in your system for months. If he’s positive for the use of Boldenone in July, you’d also expect him to be positive in September. The half-life of the supplement, on the other hand, is very short. If you used the supplement on July 26 and stopped it shortly after and was tested on Sept. 3, you would be negative.”

CSAC board members questioned the validity of Silva’s independent test in regards to its authenticity and chain of custody. Members also asked why Silva did not submit purchase receipts for the Novodex he allegedly took.

“I think they needed to find some basis to do what they wanted to do, and this second test we did wasn’t our central piece of evidence,” said Jacobs afterward. “They seemed to want to make it that. There was plenty of other evidence to establish that he had used Novodex. It was really the only thing they could talk about.”

Jacobs noted that he had raised questions regarding the chain of custody of Sean Sherk’s urine sample in his appeal -- which Jacobs spearheaded last year -- but the commission downplayed its importance.

“I assumed that this would go the same, but again, [the Commission] really seems to do things the way they want without regard for how they’ve done it in the past,” said Jacobs. “They admitted that the positive test could have been caused by something that wasn’t banned, which was the over-the-counter supplement that he took, yet they still found the suspension and that’s flat wrong. I have no idea why they do what they do. There’s no consistency at all.”

Silva, dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, was visibly disappointed by the decision.

“I feel very sad and unfortunate,” said Silva after hearing the verdict. “I feel like, once again, the Commission doesn’t take a fair look at MMA fighters.” Silva’s manager said the fighter, who hails out of American Top Team, is weighing the option of taking his case into the civil courts.

“They still haven’t proved that he took Boldenone,” said Davis. “We’re playing with people’s careers here, their lives. We’re throwing medical terms around as if they’re playing cards, but we’re not getting down to the nitty gritty. What is proof and what’s not? We know that he’s innocent. We know he didn’t take anything, so they have to prove that he didn’t, which still hasn’t happened.”

[flobot]

Hehehe I knew novedex metabolizes into boldenone

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