LAS VEGAS -- Brazilian light-heavyweight Thiago Silva has been banned for a year and fined US$33,750 after admitting to doping and tampering with his urine at a UFC 125 drug test. The Nevada State Athletic Commission handed down the ruling after a hearing Thursday. Silvas win over Brandon (The Truth) Vera on Jan. 1 was turned into a no contest. He cannot reapply for his license to fight until Jan. 2, 2012. The 28-year-old mixed martial arts fighter from Sao Paolo came clean last week after the Nevada commission alleged he submitted a specimen that was "inconsistent with human urine" before the bout. Silva subsequently issued a statement acknowledging he had taken a prohibited substance and then tried to conceal it by using a "urine adulterant." "I did so in an attempt to alter the results of the test and knowingly broke the rules of the Nevada Athletic Commission," he said. "This was a terrible decision on my part for which I will be punished. I am prepared to accept this punishment, learn from it and move on. "I apologize to the commission, the UFC, Brandon Vera and the MMA fans." Vera, after suffering his third straight defeat, was cut by the UFC in the wake of the Silva loss. But he has since been reinstated. Silva (14-2 with one no contest) is a highly regarded 205-pounder whose lone losses have been to Rashad Evans and Lyota Machida, both former UFC light-heavyweight champions. In his statement, the six-foot-one Silva said the chain of events leading to his decision to cheat started with a severe back injury shortly before the Evans fight in the main event of UFC 108 in January 2010. In order to fight, he took injections containing a prohibited substance and then tried to mask the presence of these substances in his urine. Cheap Miami Heat Jerseys . With Chris Young starting his first major league game in more than a year, and a short bullpen, the New York Mets manager had few options. Cheap Jerseys from China . Ninety-six more regular-season games were wiped off the schedule Friday along with the Jan. http://cambridgediversity.org/cheapjerseysfromchina.html . - Lindsey Vonn has elected to skip the season-opening World Cup slalom event Sunday to rest a sore back. Cheap Jerseys China . Birnbacher finished the Pillerseetal course in 25 minutes 31.1 seconds to finish 0.4 seconds ahead of defending overall champion Martin Fourcade of France, who missed one target. Cheap Jerseys . Mondays tilt is the first of seven meetings between the teams over the final 10 games. The As, who trail Texas by four games in the division, may catch a break as Rangers superstar Josh Hamilton is still recovering from a sinus problem that had been impacting his vision.DURHAM, N.C. -- Peyton and Eli Manning listened intently to Duke coach David Cutcliffes instructions as the NFL quarterbacks worked up a sweat, briskly throwing a mix of deep and short passes at the Blue Devils indoor practice field. The Super Bowl winners still trust what their college mentor has to say. So when they needed somewhere to tune up their games before voluntary NFL workouts begin next week, they reunited with the coach theyve known for roughly two decades. "Thats why we came back here -- we come to get coached," Eli Manning said. "We thought this was a good way to come back, work on some of the mechanics, make sure everything is in check before we start working as a group and as a team." The Mannings brought some NFL teammates -- including new Denver receiver Wes Welker and New York Giants wideout Victor Cruz -- to Duke this week to fine-tune a few things and receive some guidance from their mentor. "Its an unusual relationship, one that I think we all appreciate," Cutcliffe said. "We all come out here and it really does go right back to coaching them. ... And now we can walk off the field and get in the car and become best of friends." Cutcliffe certainly goes way back with the Mannings. He was the offensive co-ordinator at Tennessee who groomed Peyton into the No. 1 overall draft pick in 1998. He took over later that year at Mississippi -- the alma mater of family patriarch Archie Manning -- and did the same thing for Eli, whom Cutcliffe says he has known since he was aa boy and "was going to the theatre to see The Lion King.dddddddddddd" "Eli and I are doing a lot of the same drills that I did when I was a freshman at Tennessee in 1994," Peyton said. "You get a good drill that teaches a certain fundamental, you dont have to change it. You do the same thing over and over again, and thats what I believe in is consistency. Thats something (Cutcliffe) helps me with -- consistency and trying to stay out of bad habits." The brothers certainly have grown quite comfortable on the Duke campus since Cutcliffe was hired before the 2008 season, attending North Carolina-Duke mens basketball games over the years with him. Theyre crashing at his house for this "three-day minicamp," Peyton said. Cutcliffe welcomed in Eli to work out in 2011, and Peyton made Duke his headquarters last spring while the four-time NFL MVP and Super Bowl winner recovered from neck surgery and talked to several NFL teams before signing a free-agent deal with the Broncos. "Last year, with the sort of unique circumstances I was in, I really needed a coach to coach me in my rehab," Peyton said. "And what better guy to go to than somebody whos seen me throw more than anybody except my dad, probably." Added Eli, who led the Giants to two Super Bowl wins in five years: "I think a lot of my mechanics, a lot of my fundamentals are because of doing his drills and his coaching through the years. You kind of want to go back to the source and make sure everythings in check." ' ' '