UFC Signee Hit With 9-Month Suspension & Gets Win Overturned After Failed Drug Test

A contract winner on last year’s edition of Dana White’s Contender Series had his win overturned and has been hit with a suspension following a failed drug test.

DWCS is firmly established as the primary feeder program for the UFC at this point, and last weekend’s UFC London card saw several fighters make their promotional debuts after earning UFC contracts on the show in 2025.

One of the contracts handed out last year went to undefeated Brazilian light heavyweight Levi Rodrigues Jr., who scored a first-round finish over the previously-unbeaten Freddy Vidal in the final fight of the year’s DWCS season.

Levi Rodrigues Faces 9-Month Suspension After Failed Drug Test

First reported by MMA Junkie’s Nolan King, Rodrigues’ victory over Vidal has been overturned to a No Contest by the Nevada State Athletic Commission after the Brazilian tested positive for the banned substance nandrolone.

Levi Rodrigues defeated Freddy Vidal on Dana White's Contender Series. | (Ken Hathaway/MMA Junkie)

In addition to the result of the Vidal fight being overturned, Rodrigues was also hit with a $1000.60 fine and a nine-month suspension that will keep him out of action until at least July 14. Nolan’s report notes that the 29-year-old’s team has already acknowledged the failed test and revealed that Rodrigues used nandrolone to address a back issue from May 2024 to July 2024.

"Baby Monster" Has Finished Every Opponent That He's Faced

Vidal now gets to keep his undefeated (4-0) record following the NSAC’s decision, while Rodrigues’ apparently gets to remain on the UFC roster and sees his own professional record revert to 5-0.

Rodrigues began his amateur MMA career in 2021 and had a busy first year that saw him knock out five opponents in the first round and win the Copa Thunder Fight amateur light heavyweight belt. All five of those wins came in under a minute, and he actually competed a total of six times in 2021 but had a matchup with Andre Carvalho end in a No Contest due to punches landed after the end of the first round.

“Baby Monster” moved on to amateur boxing and kickboxing in 2022 before he won his professional MMA debut in just 32 seconds in July of that year, and he followed that up with another pair of stoppages and extended his 100% finishing rate in early 2025 at MMA University 1 when he returned from a nearly two-year layoff. In his final pre-DWCS bout, the 29-year-old knocked out Alan Riberio in the opening round at LFA 216 just over a month before he was booked to meet Vidal.