Substance abuse problem... doesn't clarify if it is alcohol, drugs, or prescription drugs such as antidepressants or pain medication. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>“This is horrible news, but we’re proud of him for stepping up and recognizing his problem. At times like this you realize who your true friends are and who really supports you, and the people around him now are supporting him and are gonna be with him when he comes back. Paulo apologizes to his fans but he thanks them for their support and he promised that the next time they see him, he’ll be back at 100 percent and will be the Paulo Filho everyone expects to see.”</div> MMA Mania
from mmaweekly. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>World Extreme Cagefighting middleweight champion Paulo Filho, battling some personal issues, has chosen to withdraw from his March 26 title defense against Chael Sonnen, the promotion announced Thursday evening. The 29-year-old Filho voluntarily checked himself into an undisclosed rehabilitation center in Brazil on Thursday morning to seek help for a substance abuse problem. “This is horrible news, but we’re proud of him for stepping up and recognizing his problem,” said Filho’s manager, Ed Soares. “At times like this you realize who your true friends are and who really supports you, and the people around him now are supporting him and are gonna be with him when he comes back. “Paulo apologizes to his fans but he thanks them for their support and he promised that the next time they see him, he’ll be back at 100 percent and will be the Paulo Filho everyone expects to see." Filho had first been rumored to be out of the fight a week ago, telling Tatame.com that he had been going through a bout of depression. He then changed his mind and his management indicated that he had decided to put his efforts into preparing to defend his title against Sonnen in Las Vegas at the end of the month. “We fully support Paulo in this difficult time and our thoughts are with him as he goes through recovery,” said WEC vice president Peter Dropick. The WEC announced that the light heavyweight title bout between defending champion Doug Marshall and challenger Brian Stann will now be moved up to the main event. No announcement was forthcoming as to whether or not the promotion will attempt to add an additional bout to the fight card.</div> saw a couple of posts on the UG when he first mentioned the depression and ppl were saying if you don't 'cycle right' comming of steroids you can get depression. not sure how much to put into that but many ppl have commented that he's not looked crisp in the WEC and Dan Henderson implied that he took 'vitamin S' so we shall see how long he's gone for.
