Francisco Lo has just been banned from IBJJF competition for 3 years after failing a PEDs test earlier this year. These cases usually take a little time to reach a conclusion but Lo’s has been wrapped up fairly quickly, as it stems from an in-competition test conducted at the IBJJF Pan Championship 2025. Lo won gold in the medium-heavyweight division there and it would have been his first major title in the gi, but he will now be stripped of that title and the silver medalist Mathias Luna will be promoted to champion in his place. The IBJJF haven’t officially announced that yet but that is their standard practice.
Lo tested positive for 4α-chloro-17β-hydroxymethyl-17α-methyl-18-nor-5α-androstan-13-en-3α-ol, a long-term metabolite of dehydrochloromethyltestosterone (DHCMT), as well as 19-norandrosterone (19-NA), a metabolite of nandrolone. The suspension for test-failure would normally be a period of 4 years but any athlete can qualify for a one-year reduction in their sentence if they accept the sanction within 20 days of notification of the alleged anti-doping rule violation charge. Because of that, Lo was given the one-year reduction in his sentence and has been suspended from IBJJF competition for 3 years instead. That suspension begins retroactively from April 28th, 2025 when his provisional suspension began, meaning that Lo will not be eligible to compete until April 28th, 2028.
Francisco Lo will still be eligible to compete under any other promotion in the meantime of course and there are very few promotions in the world who voluntarily uphold the results of PEDs tests conducted elsewhere. In fact, it won’t be long at all before Lo does step on the mats again as he is a member of the Checkmat team at the AIGA Champions League Final 2025. That appearance is just a matter of days away at the time of writing and Lo also has his next match lined up too, against Izaak Michell at ONE Fight Night 33 just two weeks later.
