Junior Dos Santos On USADA Suspension Affecting His Career, UFC 224 Countdown, Chad Mendes Returns

By Dana Becker

- The UFC debuted "Countdown to UFC 224" Monday night on FOX Sports 1, and you can see a complete replay of the entire episode in the video above. The series spotlights Saturday night's main event between Amanda Nunes and Raquel Pennington for the bantamweight title.

The series follows the fighters as they prepare for fight week, offering up training footage and interviews. Along with Nunes-Pennington, the program also features a look at the co-main event between Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza and Kelvin Gastelum.

As a reminder, Wrestling Inc. will have coverage of Saturday's action from Brazil.

- Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos was officially announced as one-half of the main event for the UFC's upcoming debut in Boise, Idaho, as he'll take on Blagoy Ivanov. Dos Santos is returning from a suspension handed down by the USADA, and he told The MMA Hour Monday that it was a "nightmare" situation to deal with.

"They stopped my whole career to investigate the thing," dos Santos said. "I think that goes in the completely opposite direction of the law. I'm innocent until proven guilty. In this case, it's different ? you're guilty until you're proven innocent. So, yeah. This is not good, man. Especially in my case, that I knew I didn't do anything wrong and I was going all through this situation. It was a very bad feeling.

"I feel the truth was found and everybody knows that was a tainted supplement. It wasn't my fault, it wasn't my intention. There's always negative people, that they keep saying bad things about you. They hold on the negative things. But I feel like I got my reputation back. It's very, very important to me."

Dos Santos vs. Ivanov will take place July 14.

- Former UFC featherweight title challenger Chad Mendes will return to action this July against Myles Jury when the UFC heads to Boise, Idaho. Mendes has been serving a suspension for taking a banned substance.

Mendes has fought for UFC gold three times in his career, losing twice to Jose Aldo and once to Conor McGregor. Jury is a former Ultimate Fighter competitor who is 8-2 over 10 Octagon appearances.

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