Marvin Vettori reveals USADA violation

Marvin Vettori’s next fight is yet to be booked and now we know why.

With the USADA no longer publicly announcing if fighters have been flagged for potential violations, the 25-year-old UFC middleweight took it upon himself to go on Instagram on Monday to speak directly to fans and inform them that he is currently under investigation after recently failing a drug test.

In the above video (with Vettori providing his own Italian-to-English subtitles), Vettori explains that USADA officials came to his home to collect a sample on Aug. 6 and two weeks later he was notified that he had tested positive for a banned substance.

“Obviously, I was shocked: I’ve never taken any banned substance in any case or moment, so I started straight away to help try to be as proactive as possible to give any useful information to make them (and myself) understand what might have happened and where I have encountered this substance,” Vettori said. “So I immediately did everything possible to understand what’s happened, trying to remember everything I took in the previous months and we’re still in the process to find out.”

Vettori twice says that he has never voluntarily consumed any banned substance and adds that the quantity found in his system was “very low, one nanogram per milliliter.” He then went on to further apologize for the failed test.

“I’m very sorry from the deep of my heart, I’m very disappointed about this situation, unfortunately s**t happens, but despite all this I never stopped training and I’m sure I’ll get through this situation,” Vettori said. “I’ve never stopped training, I’ll never stop improving and I’m getting ready for the moment I’ll get back in the cage. I made this video to inform you, to thank you for the everyday support, and I can say we will go through this and we’ll arrive where we want to.”

The accompanying Instagram caption expresses similar thoughts, though he also specifies that this was his seventh USADA test and that the substance found was ostarine, an anabolic agent on the prohibited substances list.

Vettori (12-4-1) last competed at UFC on FOX 29 in April, where he lost a split decision to Israel Adesanya. His UFC record sits at 2-2-1.