Ryan Janes won't fight as 1st Newfoundlander in UFC octagon Saturday night
Janes' opponent Adam Hunter was pulled from the fight due to a potential UFC anti-doping policy violation
Ryan Janes was supposed to become the first Newfoundlander to step into the cage for a UFC fight Saturday night, but his opponent was pulled from the fight due to a possible drug violation.
Janes was set to square off against another Canadian, Adam Hunter, who currently lives in Ottawa but has previously lived in New Brunswick.
According to a release from UFC on August 26, Hunter was flagged for a "potential Anti-Doping Policy violation stemming from an out-of-competition sample collection on August 11, 2016."
Because the discovery was so close to the scheduled fight, there wasn't enough time to do a full review and the fight has been removed from Saturday night's fight card.
UFC said in their statement they would compensate Janes with his show money and would look into rebooking him for a new fight.
Janes currently lives in Victoria, B.C., but was born in Grand Falls-Windsor and grew up in St. John's.
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The fight was supposed to be one of 11 fights happening in Vancouver on Saturday, what the Ultimate Fighting Championship is billing as Fight Night Vancouver.
This would have been the first fight for both Janes and Hunter.
Janes, 35, a graphic designer for the government of British Columbia, only started training when he was 25.
When he spoke with CBC News last month, Janes said he never thought he would end up competing at a high level in any sport.
"I was the nerd in high school. There's no way that I'm built to be a professional in anything, at any sport," he said.
