www.mmaweekly.com
Just over a week after being ousted from the co-main event of the WFA's "King of the Streets" pay-per-view due to a positive test for steroids, UFC and Pride veteran Kimo Leopoldo spoke with MMAWeekly about the series of events that led up to the positive test, his removal from the WFA card, and his immediate future.
Kimo was scheduled to face Bas Rutten in the co-main event of the WFA event on July 22nd, but rumors started to circulate a few days before the scheduled fight that Kimo had failed a drug test. While many forums and news outlets were reporting the news, it was Kimo who was seemingly the last to know, as he stated that he only found out about the results of the test on Thursday, July 20th, which was the day before the WFA weigh-ins.
This story dates back to May of 2005, when Kimo took on Marcus Royster in a heavyweight bout for the Rumble on the Rock promotion in Hawaii. Kimo walked out of the bout with a severely injured knee, which would eventually require surgery and rehab. During the time before the surgery, Kimo was offered a bout in Pride against Ikuhisa Minowa and fought with the injury, attempting to get by on his strength and weight advantage, but he eventually lost the fight by submission due to an Achilles lock. It was after this fight that Kimo underwent the necessary surgery to repair his knee, and Kimo tells MMAWeekly that he was prescribed a medicinal steroid to help in his recovery after the surgery.