M. Nicolau (photo) was part of Team Shogun on TUF BR 4. Photo: Disclosure
Considered one of the main promises of Brazilian MMA, Matheus Nicolau, UFC flyweight, suffered a blow at the beginning of November. Nicolau was notified by the UFC after the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) detected something unusual in a sample collected on October 13th.
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Even though it was not disclosed what this irregularity would be, Nicolau was provisionally suspended – at the time, he was scheduled to face Ulka Sasaki in the UFC Sao Paulo, held on November 19th. Despite the suspension, Matheus, who received the information by email, guarantees that he did not ingest any prohibited substances, and was quite surprised by what happened. However, he stressed that he has a clear conscience.
“I didn't even believe it, it was like, 'I can't believe I'm reading this.' They said only traces of contamination were found. We have our suspicions as to what the supplements might have been, but it's hard to think of any I've taken recently, none of which had this substance in them. My doctor is very cautious about this, he always reads the substances. We are working with the worst case scenario, which is one year. I hadn't taken any medication in the last two months before the test, our number one suspect is a contaminated supplement. […] Despite everything, my conscience is clear”, he declared, in an interview with the website 'MMA Junkie' (USA).
The Brazilian also showed concern about the future, as, according to him, there is no way to protect himself from these situations. “I'm a high-performance athlete and I need supplements to fight, how am I going to continue at a high level eating rice and beans? I need the supplements. That's my concern. I was always very careful about it, I always went to the doctor. So my concern is how am I going to protect myself so that this situation doesn't happen in the future? It could have been worse, before a title fight. I need to use this to learn and become the best MMA fighter I can be,” he concluded.
At 23, Matheus Nicolau He was a participant in TUF Brasil 4 and debuted in Ultimate by submitting his compatriot Bruno Korea, in November 2015. His second fight in the organization was last July, when he beat John Moraga in a split decision from the judges.
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