Cris 'Cyborg' Justino Notified of Potential USADA Drug Test Violation

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) notified Cris "Cyborg" Justino of a possible violation stemming from an out-of-competition drug test on Dec. 5, according to MMA Fighting's Dave Doyle. 

The UFC released a statement about the situation Thursday, per Doyle:

"

Under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, there is a full fair legal review process that is afforded to all athletes before any sanctions are imposed. Consistent with all previous potential anti-doping violations, additional information or UFC statements will be provided at the appropriate time as the process moves forward.

"

"What I can say now is that they are talking to my doctor, and I’m calm,” Cyborg said, per Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting. "Everybody knows I’m sick, that I’m recovering from the weight cut I had to do for the fight. What is happening is post-weight cut. Everybody knows I’m sick. They are talking to my doctor to solve this the best way.

"It's nothing bad. I'm on medical treatment."

Prior to joining the UFC, Justino served a one-year suspension from the California State Athletic Commission after testing positive for Stanozolol following her victory over Hiroko Yamanaka in December 2011.

After spending years dominating the women's featherweight divisions in Strikeforce and Invicta Fighting Championships, Justino officially signed with the UFC in March 2015. She won her debut fight against Leslie Smith at UFC 198 in May and defeated Lina Lansberg at UFC Fight Night in September.

Whether fair or not, SB Nation's Luke Thomas thought that Justino's previous drug violation colors the perception around her current potential infraction:

A possible suspension for the 31-year-old would be a big blow for UFC. MMA writer Jeremy Botter tweeted the company essentially built its women's featherweight division in order to help turn Justino into a star.

MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani believes her absence would cause a domino effect for the women's bantamweight division:

Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie are fighting for the featherweight title at UFC 208 on Feb. 11, and many expected Justino to take on the champion sooner rather than later.

Instead, those plans may have to be put on hold.