Brock Lesnar notified of a positive doping sample taken before UFC 200

Brock Lesnar’s chances of returning to the UFC following his Saturday unanimous-decision victory over Mark Hunt at UFC 200 took a massive hit Friday when it was announced he has been notified of a potential positive sample.

A UFC spokesman released a statement saying, “The UFC was notified today that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has informed Brock Lesnar of a potential … violation stemming from an out-of-competition sample collection on June 28.”

The performance enhancing substance was not identified by USADA.

Lesnar, a former UFC heavyweight champion scheduled to return to the WWE in a headlining role at SummerSlam in August at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, surprisingly came back from a five-year absence and was positioned in the co-main event of UFC 200.

Briefly, Lesnar’s fight was placed as the main event after former UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance and was pulled from his main-event rematch with champion Daniel Cormier three days before UFC 200.

Lesnar, the next day, called Jones’ positive test result “unprofessional,” and joked, “Happy birthday to me,” about the main-event status that hours later was instead given to the women’s bantamweight championship fight between new champion Amanda Nunes and Miesha Tate.

While UFC 200 was a social-media and television ratings success, it may have fallen just shy of the record 1.6 million pay-per-view buys of UFC 196 in March, with those in the company casting blame on Jones.

Hunt had chided Lesnar in interviews for “juicing,” objecting to the fact that the USADA screening for any performance-enhancing drug use didn’t begin until after Lesnar formally announced his return in early June, although he began training earlier.

The sample was screened at the UCLA Olympic Analytical Lab, with the result given to the UFC Thursday night.

UFC officials did not provide any follow-up comments. It’s unclear how Lesnar’s case will be treated by WWE. The organization has a fighter health policy in place, but attempts to reach an organization spokeswoman Friday were not immediately successful., and attempts to reach WWE officials Friday afternoon were not immediately successful.

After his victory, Lesnar left open the possibility of a return to the UFC, taking confidence that Hunt couldn’t take him down. A rematch with top-ranked heavyweight Cain Velasquez, who previously defeated Lesnar, was among the possible high-profile bouts that might’ve been on the table.

While the Nevada State Athletic Commission has the right to determine the penalty to a positive drug result should it be confirmed by a backup sample and through appeal, a two-year suspension is suggested by USADA.

lance.pugmire@latimes.com