Rafael 'Feijao' Cavalcante's strange suspension appeal denied by California State Athletic Commission

Back in May, Strikeforce light heavyweight Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante tested positive for stanozolol after a quick win over Mike Kyle. He was given a one-year suspension by the California State Athletic Commission in June, and the bout was overturned to a no-contest. Yesterday, Feijao appealed his suspension in front of the commission, and his people came up with an angle no one else in MMA has used yet:

They said that he peed in a used cup.

The CSAC put out a list of documents prior to the appeal on Monday, which included a seven-page report by Feijao's lawyer Howard Jacobs. You can read the whole thing over at FightOpinion. In a nutshell, Jacobs challenged the chain of custody due to the sample being collected the day after it is listed on the report. They tried to collect it on May 18th, but there wasn't enough urine for a test so they collected a new sample the next day. Jacobs says they just threw out the first sample, but used the same cup to collect the new sample on May 19th. So in the meantime, the cup could have become contaminated.

There's a little more to it and you can check out the whole thing above if you're so inclined, but that's the basic premise. The CSAC has definitely had their issues of late, which we've documented (mostly via Zach Arnold of FightOpinion, who has done an awesome job covering it), but it seems pretty obvious they were going to throw this defense out. To the shock of approximately no one, that's exactly what they did (via Mike Chiapetta of MMA Fighting):

The California state athletic commission has voted to uphold Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante's one-year suspension for steroids.

— Mike Chiappetta MMA (@MikeChiappetta) October 8, 2012

FO has posted the videos of the appeal, if you care to watch bureaucracy at work. Either way, Feijao will be sitting on the sidelines until mid-2013. With Strikeforce's future up in the air, this could hurt his chances at a possible move to the UFC.