Valerie Letourneau on USADA nix of Hector Lombard corner: The job is done

MELBOURNE, Australia – UFC welterweight Hector Lombard will not be in Valerie Letourneau’s corner for Saturday’s UFC 193 event, but he will be watching from the stands, Letourneau said today.

As MMAjunkie previously reported, Lombard was nixed from cornering the UFC women’s strawweight title challenger after a warning by the UFC’s anti-doping partners at the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for a possible violation of its “prohibited association” rule, a move Letourneau called “disgusting.”

But, she added, it won’t hamper her performance.

“I don’t want to talk too much about it because it’s nothing positive for me, but all I have to say is the job is done,” Letourneau (8-3 MMA, 3-0 UFC) said at an open working in support of her pay-per-view co-headliner with champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. “My training was at the gym, and the only thing that hurts us is that Hector has been such a big part of my improvement in my career in the past two, three years, that I just feel it’s disgusting for him not being able to be there.”

In a statement, USADA, which oversees the UFC’s anti-doping program, told MMAjunkie that Letourneau and Lombard were warned of a potential violation of the rule, which precludes UFC fighters suspended for anti-doping offenses from providing “athlete support” to fighters not under disciplinary scrutiny.

Although Letourneau and Lombard are not subject to punishment, they could be if they continue to act in opposition to the rule, USADA officials said. The pair agreed Lombard would not work her corner as he had in three previous UFC bouts.

In March, the Nevada State Athletic Commission suspended Lombard for one year after the regulatory body found a designer steroid in his system after his decision victory over Josh Burkman at UFC 182. Lombard accepted responsibility for the infraction yet indicated a member of his “inner circle” was to blame for the positive test.

Letourneau defended Lombard in a previous interview with MMAjunkie and said he took a supplement that turned out to have banned substances in it. Nevertheless, she said she would continue to work with him and credited him for developing her skills at the famed American Top Team she joined two years ago.

Letourneau’s corner on Saturday will include longtime American Top Team fighter and coach Mike Brown and striking coach Roger Krahl, Brown told MMAjunkie. Lombard will be there, meanwhile, to provide moral support.

“(Lombard) knows how much I care, and how grateful I am for how much he’s been helping me,” Letourneau said. “But the job is done, and I will go there with no corner and I will still do my job.”

For more on UFC 193, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.