You thought it couldn’t get worse for James Irvin after his 61-second destruction at the hands of Anderson Silva at UFC Fight Night 14. You were dead wrong. Turns out Irvin’s post-fight urine sample was positive for both methadone and oxymorphone. That’s right, methadone, as in what they give to help recovering heroin addicts. And that’s also right, oxymorphone, the semi-synthetic opiod that is 6-8 times more potent than morphine. Damn, James Irvin. Sup?
Because this is undoubtedly a rough time for “The Sandman” we’ll refrain from jokes suggesting that if he was on these narcotic pain relievers before the bout with Silva, he may have to rob a pharmacy to get through his recovery afterwards. Instead we’ll just say that we’re very curious to hear an explanation and to see what steps the UFC and Nevada State Athletic Commission will take with something like this. Irvin has twenty days to respond and contest the results, or else it’s likely to be fine and suspension time.
Both drugs are considered “banned substances”, but are they performance enhancing? Will he suffer a suspension and fine similar to Nick Diaz, who the NSAC accused of being so doped up (on weed, no less) that he was virtually impervious to pain?
Guess we’ll wait and see. In the meantime, let’s just be glad that everyone else who was tested on the card came back clean.
Update: Justin Levens also tested positive for oxymorphone before the Affliction card that he didn’t even fight on (his bout was scratched due to time issues). He’s been fined $1,000 and is suspended until January 15. All without stepping into the ring.









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commentsi've smoked a LOT of weed in my life... and i find it freaking ridiculous that diaz could have been so high he was impervious to pain. in my experience, you can't use weed for pain management... it just doesn't work that way.
freakin drug hysteria, seriously.
so disappointed.
Or he can't get over his love for drugs.
The Sandman shoulda tested positive for cocaine.
* My girlfriend's brother's friend's cousin who bought an affliction shirt at the big event told me so.
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