Cris 'Cyborg' Santos Appealing Suspension, April 9 Hearing Likely

SI.com's Loretta Hunt reported Monday night that Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos has begun the process of appealing her one year suspension from the California State Athletic Commission with CSAC Executive Officer George Dodd "likely" expecting an April 9th date to hear the appeal.

The then-Strikeforce 145-pound women's champion was suspended on January 6th after her December 17th annihilation of Hiroko Yamanaka when a pre-fight urine sample tested positive for the synthetic anabolic steroid Stanozolol. Santos would have been eligible to apply for her license to be reinstated on December 17, 2012.

Santos claimed that she had taken a supplement to assist with her weight cutting for the Yamanaka fight that turned out to be tainted. Soon after the suspension, Zuffa co-owner Dana White announced that Santos would be stripped of her title and that the future of the division within Strikeforce was in doubt.

The 26-year-old had returned to action for the first time in 18 months against Yamanaka, a 16-second destruction that was ruled a no-contest following the suspension. She had compiled a 10-1 record to that point, winning the 145-pound gold in August 2009 with a first round TKO over Gina Carano with successive wins over Marloes Coenen and Jan Finney.

Note: Hunt updated her story Tuesday afternoon with April 9 as the likely hearing date.