Ex-UFC fighter Geraldo de Freitas gets two-year anti-doping suspension

Former UFC featherweight Geraldo de Freitas has been suspended for a violation of the promotion’s anti-doping policy.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency on Wednesday announced an independent arbitrator ruled de Freitas (13-6) should be suspended for two years for a violation committed while he was on the UFC roster.

Hearings for de Freitas’ case were held in July and September. The Brazilian tested positive for exogenous administration of testosterone and/or its precursors in an out-of-competition test on Oct. 14, 2020. A Carbon Isotope Radio test determined the testosterone was of external origin.

At his hearing, de Freitas said he was unsure how the test results came to be and that the positive result was from a testing error, or from his use of an allowed substance. But the arbitrator’s conclusion was there was no evidence to support those claims.

De Freitas’ two-year suspension is retroactive to Jan. 11, 2021.

De Freitas won his UFC debut in 2019 with a decision over Felipe Colares. But then he had back-to-back split decision losses to Chris Gutierrez and Tony Gravely. In July, he submitted Marcos Cordeiro with a first-round armbar in a Shooto Brazil event.