Manel Kape still eligible to fight at UFC 275 after testing positive for M3 metabolite

A recent positive test for the long term metabolite of the steroid dehydrochloromethyltestosterone (DHCMT), known as the M3 metabolite, will not keep Manel Kape from competing at UFC 275 next month.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission ruled on Monday that Kape must be tested twice per month for six months and the results must either be negative or below the 100-picograms-per-millileter threshold for the M3 metabolite in order to be licensed by the commission.

The M3 metabolite is the same one that came to prominence when Jon Jones tested positive for the long-term metabolite in multiple screenings beginning in late 2018. USADA ruled that in cases like Jones and numerous others that followed, that it could not determined how long ago the fighter might have ingested the banned substance before it turned into the metabolite. That led to the anti-doping body instituting the 100 pg/ML threshold as a tipping point to potentially discipline the athlete in question as part of the UFC’s drug testing policy.

UFC executive Jeff Novitzky attended Tuesday’s hearing in support of Kape. Kape was pulled from a proposed bout against Su Mudaerji at UFC Fight Night 205 by the NSAC as a result of the initial finding, but he was not suspended. Kape is able to fight at UFC 275 because it will be held in Singapore, which is outside NSAC jurisdiction.

A former Rizin bantamweight champion, Kape is slated to face Rogerio Bontorin at UFC 275 on June 11. The 28-year-old Thailand representative is coming off back-to-back first-round finishes against Ode Osbourne and Zhalgas Zhumagulov.