MMA: Penn fight nixed for IV use

BJ Penn’s return to the octagon was hit with a self-inflicted delay.

The Hilo fighter was pulled from UFC 199 on Monday and was given a provisional suspension after the mixed martial arts organization said Penn violated its anti-doping policy by admitting to the use of intravenous fluids.

“I voluntarily disclosed to the (U.S. Anti-Doping Agency) that during a non-fight period that I had an IV administered under the care of a doctor,” Penn told BJpenn.com.

“The rule for IV usage had changed since my last fight in the UFC and was unaware of the change and voluntarily disclosed the information to USADA. I had no idea that IV use was banned 365 days a year.”

Penn was training for a featherweight bout against Cole Miller on June 4 in what was to be the UFC Hall of Famer’s first fight in nearly two years.

The UFC said the violation involved the “use of an IV in excess of 50 (milliliters) in a six-hour period during a March 25, 2016, out-of-competition sample collection.”

In his statement, Penn said: “At no time in my career in martial arts have I ever doped and anticipate all test results from USADA will come back clean and will be working with the UFC to get the matter cleared up and return to fight as soon as possible.”

IVs were considered by many figthers to be the safest way to recover and compete after making a large cut in weight.

When the UFC’s partnership with the (USADA) was announced last year, effectively banning the the use of IVs for rehydration, Penn supported the new rules via twitter, according to a July 6, 2015, post by Mike Bohn of mmajunkie.com.

“I love the new PED and IV ban in the UFC. I never took an IV in my life after a weigh-in. IVs are for wimps!” reads a tweet on Penn verified twitter account from July 5.