Promising Brazilian MMA fighter Istela Nunes was scheduled to make her UFC debut on September 21, 2019, right against Angela Hill, when surprising news took her off the floor. She was caught in an out-of-competition doping test with metabolites of stanozolol, an anabolic agent, and received a two-year suspension.
More shocking than having a dream deferred was the positive result for doping from an athlete who swears she has never used prohibited substances in her career. With her time on the hook about to expire on July 22, Istela still can’t explain how she was caught for something she says she never did.
Nearing the end of suspension, Istela Nunes still does not understand doping failure: “I never used”.
“It was very confusing for us at first to believe that, because I never used any kind of anabolic. Not even at the ONE time, which I could (the ONE Championship started its anti-doping control program in 2019, after Istela left the organization), I was never even curious, in fact I was always afraid of it. But it happened, and they said at the time that I had an amount, that I actually had (like) a strand of hair coming out of my body. We tried to find out in various ways how it happened, but I didn’t know where it came from, everyone asking if I had taken anything. If I had really taken, I would speak, and would be much better, could have a punishment of less time, but I really do not know to this day why she said”
Despite the disappointment and the delay in her career, Istela Nunes seems at peace with everything that has happened. She admits that it was very bad at first, but nowadays she answers questions about the case without any problems. It’s in the past, and the time to move on and debut in the UFC is coming.
It was even scheduled for July 31 against Jinh Yu Frey, but had to be cancelled. A problem with her visa to enter the USA prevented Istela from returning to the country. She was living in Florida and training with American Top Team in 2019 when she signed to face Angela Hill and stayed a little beyond the term of her then visa.
“I had to come away because my visa time was going to expire. They asked me to stay and then they would fix it. I stayed there illegally for three weeks. But it coincided with me getting caught doping, and I needed to come to be with my family. I think that is why it is taking so long (for them to issue a new visa), because I stayed there these three weeks illegally.”
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