Klidson Abreu’s unanimous decision victory over Renan Ferreira has been overturned by the Georgia Athletic and Entertainment Commission due to a failed drug test, multiple people with knowledge of the situation told MMA Fighting.
The former UFC fighter confirmed the news to MMA Fighting, saying he suffered a bad cut one week before his bout with Ferreira on June 24. He said that he was unable to pass a drug screening and went to hospital.
Medical paperwork Abreu provided to MMA Fighting, which he said he received after going to the hospital, showed he was prescribed clindamycin, an antibiotic, and mupirocin, an a topical antibiotic. Antibiotics are sometimes linked to false positives in drug tests, though it was not immediately clear whether that possibility applied to the two substances; Abreu said he was informed by the commission that mupirocin could serve as a masking agent for another banned substance.
Photo via Klidson Abreu
Abreu said he has yet to be informed which substance for which he tested positive, and he has already started the process of appealing the decision. The Georgia Athletic and Entertainment Commission didn’t respond to a request for comment.
“I had an infection on the leg one week before the fight, and I almost lost my leg,” Abreu told MMA Fighting. To heal quickly and to be able fight I had to use strong medication. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for me to continue fighting. [The commission] said I took it to mask something else, but I have the papers showing the doctor prescribed me, and we’re sending it all [to the commission].”
According to Abreu, the procedure he had to go through at the hospital left him with “almost $100,000 debt.”
Abreu joined PFL after a short run in the UFC, where he went 1-2 and one no-contest, and won his past two inside the PFL cage after dropping his debut to Jamelle Jones. Ferreira was an early Season 4 favorite before his loss to Abreu and a subsequent first-round loss to Season 4 finalist Ante Delija.
