LAS VEGAS -- The Nevada State Athletic Commission has suspended UFC welterweight Hector Lombard one year for a failed drug test he submitted following a win against Josh Burkman on Jan. 3.
In addition to the suspension, which is retroactive to Jan. 3, the NSAC fined Lombard a $53,000 win bonus and 33 percent of a $53,000 purse -- resulting in a $70,490 fine. The result of the fight changes to a no-contest.
Lombard (34-4-1) tested positive for the anabolic steroid desoxymethyltestosterone, common name "DMT." During a disciplinary hearing on Monday, Lombard said he accepted a bottle of pills from a "friend" prior to flying to Las Vegas for UFC 182. He said he took one of the pills the day prior to the fight because he felt "down."
Based out of Coconut Creek, Florida, Lombard attended the hearing via conference call. He apologized to his team, fans and the UFC, while pleading with the NSAC to lessen his punishment. At one point, he interrupted deliberations to ask the commission for a "second chance." The 37-year-old and his legal team asked for leniency based on the fighter's age and the assertion he did not knowingly take a banned substance.
"I was feeling a little bit low," Lombard said. "I would have never thought the pills would have that type of ingredient in it. It was my mistake. I was stupid.
"If I would have known they were illegal, I wouldn't have taken it. I don't know. It was so stupid on my behalf. I trusted in a person I shouldn't have trusted in."
A former Bellator MMA middleweight champion, Lombard had never failed a drug test prior to UFC 182. He was scheduled to fight Rory MacDonald on April 25, but that fight was canceled when results of his failed test were made public last month.
