{"id":383292,"date":"2024-04-10T03:17:40","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T03:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=383292"},"modified":"2024-04-10T04:03:10","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T04:03:10","slug":"tasmanian-mma-star-spills-on-shock-doping-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=383292","title":{"rendered":"Tasmanian MMA star spills on shock doping ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the home of gambling it was a gamble that went horribly wrong.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Tasmania's Rob Wilkinson appeared on top of his world 12 months ago<\/a>, kickstarting his PFL title defence with a victory over Thiago Santos in Las Vegas.<\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffBut that world soon came crashing down as Wilkinson was among a slew of MMA fighters to test positive for a banned substance following sweeping drug tests by the Nevada Athletic Commission.<\/p>\n

Watch Australia's Rob Wilkinson in action at the 2024 Professional Fighters League.<\/strong><\/em> Streaming ad free, live and on demand on Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Rob<\/p>\n

Wilkinson admitted to the doping violation and was banned for the entire 2023 season, costing him a shot at another life changing $1.5m pay packet.<\/p>\n

"It was a big mistake or error of judgment by me," a contrite Wilkinson told Wide World of Sports ahead of his PFL comeback in Las Vegas on Saturday (AEST).<\/p>\n

"A lot of things kind of went into that decision and I was taking some TRT, testosterone replacement therapy, in the offseason and the advice I got obviously was wrong – kind of told me when to stop taking it and it wouldn't be in my system any longer.<\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Broncos rocked as injury crisis claims two more<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Boxers taking 'huge risk' to 'kill each other's dreams'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Unbelievable' football moment highlights 'game for the ages'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CtxHavuOUHv\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp<\/a><\/p>\n

"It was a pretty big – obviously – mistake on my behalf and I own that and no-one's more disappointed than I am. But I had that punishment of not fighting last year at all. Now I'm back and I get to put it behind me and go out there and get a good win and good knockout and kind of move forward from this."<\/p>\n

Wilkinson will fight England's Tom Breese in PFL2's light heavyweight opener \ufeffafter American Phil Davis withdrew with injury.<\/p>\n

Now 32, Wil\ufeffkinson was asked whether he feared his career would be over after the doping scandal.<\/p>\n

"It hit me very hard and it was very hard to deal with," he admitted.<\/p>\n

"But I had to just try and stay positive. I was suspended for nine months and just had to use this time wisely to take a bit of a break from training and have a physical and mental break from it all and try and recoup. I spent a lot more time back home with my family… it was very hard mentally for me.<\/p>\n

"In my mind I probably make everything a lot worse – how are people going to respond to that kind of news? But I was lucky enough that I have a lot of good people around me and a lot of people reached out to support me through it. Even people I don't know in Tassie and stuff, reaching out, still supporting me and that definitely means a lot. So I'm very motivated this year to go out there and win another world title and do that for everyone who's stuck by me."<\/p>\n

\"Wilkinson's<\/p>\n

Wilkinson said the enforced break had the benefit of allowing his battered body to recover properly from years of punishment.<\/p>\n

He had spent his 2022 $1.5m winner's cheque on a house in Tasmania for he and girlfriend Paris \ufeffand was feeling refreshed.<\/p>\n

Wilkinson returns to a much different \ufefflight heavyweight division following the PFL's Bellator acquisition.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportAU\/status\/1777883702078341300?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffImpa Kasanganay, who won the 2023 title in his absence, is back for more but the field is otherwise stacked with new faces.<\/p>\n

"I put myself as a favourite for sure," Wilkinson said.<\/p>\n

"I'm very confident I'm going to go win this title again… it's definitely, by the looks of it, the hardest year yet. In the past few years people have kind of said that it's maybe one of the weaker divisions. I'm excited because we've got the last three years' worth of champions, including myself, all back in the tournament and none of us have fought each other before.<\/p>\n

"I think he's (Breese) a good fighter. He's very technically sound, very defensively sound but I think I'm just going to be able to put the pressure on him and be a little bit too much for him in there."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the home of gambling it was a gamble that went horribly wrong.\ufeff Tasmania's Rob Wilkinson appeared on top of his world 12 months ago, […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":383294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383292"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=383292"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":383297,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383292\/revisions\/383297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/383294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=383292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=383292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=383292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}