Klidson Abreu fails drug test, blames leg injury for now-overturned PFL 5 win over Renan Ferreira
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. As a result, he said he went to the hospital and was prescribed a medication he believes could have led to the failed drug test.
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.
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. A request for comment to the Georgia Athletic and Entertainment Commission wasn’t immediately returned.
“I had an infection on the leg one week before the fight, and I almost lost my leg,” Abreu told MMA Fighting. “I had to take strong medication to heal fast and be able to fight, otherwise I would have to pull out. [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.