UFC bantamweight contender Brian Bowles was suspended yesterday for nine months by the Nevada State Athletic Commission after testing positive for an elevated T/E ratio following his UFC 160 bout vs. George Roop. He was also fined 30 percent of his $19,000 purse for the Roop fight, meaning he will cough up an extra $5,700 to the commission for the infraction, one Bowles says is a mistake. ESPN’s Brett Okamoto was present at the hearing and tweeted that Bowles said he had no idea how he failed his drug test, even going as far as to say he’d “swear on his mother’s life” that he was innocent of the charges at hand. It’s pretty common for a fighter to deny he or she actually did something wrong when they’ve been caught for PEDs, and in the case of Bowles it seems almost believable considering he’s a little 135er and put on an especially poor performance against Roop back in May. But at the same time, this is a fighter who hadn’t competed in a year and a half and we all know that PEDs help speed up the injury recovery process, so you never know if Bowles is telling the truth or not. Regardless, he’s in for another long layoff and we won’t see him back in the cage until 2014. As he’s one of the top-15 ranked bantamweights in the world, I don’t expect the UFC to cut Bowles but if they did it would certainly send a strong statement to the rest of the roster that PED use isn’t tolerated, no ifs, ands, or buts. Damm vs. Dias Set For Fall Brazil Card One more note to pass along to you guys and it’s a new fight announcement, as Rodrigo Damm will face Hacran Dias in a featherweight bout at UFC Fight Night 29: Maia vs. Shields. The matchup was first reported by O Dia. This is actually a really good fight and I’m glad the UFC went this route even considering Damm is coming off a win and Dias is coming off a loss. As far as how I see the fight playing out, look for Dias to be shooting for takedowns and for Damm to be looking for the KO blow in what is essentially a striker vs. grappler match. I cap Dias at -180 for this fight and I will likely be looking to make a small play on him this fall.
