UFC veteran Michel Prazeres retires after receiving 4-year suspension for second doping violation

UFC veteran Michel Prazeres has been handed a four-year suspension from the United States Anti-Doping Agency following a second violation of the UFC’s anti-doping policy.

USADA officials announced the news on Thursday.

“Prazeres received his first violation after testing positive for boldenone and served a two-year period of ineligibility beginning on March 9, 2019,” USADA officials wrote.

“Prazeres, 40, tested positive for clomiphene and its metabolites (desethyl-clomiphene, clomiphene M1, and clomiphene M2), oxandrolone metabolites, and the exogenous administration of testosterone and/or its precursors as the result of urine samples collected out-of-competition on August 27, 2021, September 16, 2021, October 15, 2021, and November 2, 2021.”

According to USADA, specialized testing was done on Prazeres’ sample in order to detect the banned substances in his system, which led to the stiff penalty being handed down.

“Prazeres’ urine sample was analyzed using a specialized test, known as Carbon Isotope Ratio (CIR) testing, that differentiates between anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) naturally produced by the body and prohibited anabolic agents of external origin,” USADA officials stated.

“The CIR test confirmed the presence of testosterone and/or its precursors of external origin in Prazeres’ urine sample.”

Based on the second violation of the UFC’s anti-doping policy, Prazeres was handed the four-year suspension, which was retrodated to his first test on Aug. 27.

That means he would not be eligible to compete again until on or after Aug. 27, 2025, but according to sources, the Brazilian ultimately decided to retire from competition because he would be out of action for so long.

Prazeres, 40, had previously requested his release from the UFC after 14 fights with the promotion dating back to 2013. He went 10-4 overall with notable wins over Gilbert Burns and Mads Burnell during his run with the UFC.

MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz contributed to this report.