Two South African extreme fighters have been in the doping spotlight recently, after the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS) reported adverse analytical findings (AAF) to the Extreme Fighting Championships (EFC). On Wednesday, the EFC announced that Demarte Pena had been convicted of inadvertent use of a prohibited substance, prior to his EFC 55 fight against Irshaad Sayed.

‘After a lengthy investigation and hearing the final ruling, which has come with far-reaching consequences, was handed down. SAIDS has directed the result of the fight between Pena and Sayed to be vacated’, read an EFC statement. ‘The result now changes to a no contest. Pena remains champion and, as Irshaad Sayed effectively did not lose the bout, he is reinstated as the interim bantamweight champion. Pena was found guilty of inadvertent use of a prohibited substance prior to his fight with Sayed. It was acknowledged that Pena had not acted with intent, significant fault or negligence, due to the fact that the banned substances in question were traced to contaminated supplements. It was further acknowledged that Pena had declared he was taking said substances, and that he had checked that the ingredients listed did not contain any prohibited substances before consumption.’

‘I fell victim to contamination of two approved sports supplements, which I used before my last title defence in November 2016’, read a statement from Pena. ‘The supplements in question are distributed by reputable and well known international supplement brands, and are not prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) or the South African Institute for Drug Free Sport (SAIDS). ‘I sent various supplements to be tested by the foremost South African testing laboratory, and the results confirmed that two of the supplements were in fact contaminated with a prohibited substance which was not indicated on the product labels’.

Juiced to the max, obviously you were going to get caught @thewolfpena @EFCworldwide #cheater #doped #roidrage pic.twitter.com/4ONwNuont3

— Irshaad Sayed (@IrshaadSayed) June 21, 2017

Today, the EFC confirmed it received notification from SAIDS that Tumisang Madiba returned a positive test for cannabis at EFC 58, when he competed against the same boxer, Irshaad Sayed. ‘My attorneys are speaking to SAIDS and we are waiting to hear what they have to say’, read a statement from Madiba published as part of the EFC’s announcement of the adverse analytical finding (AAF). ‘I’m not a cheater. Cannabis is not a performance enhancer.’