BROOMFIELD, Colo. – In his first public comment on the matter, UFC President Dana White said he was staggered by news of ex-middleweight champ Anderson Silva’s positive test for steroids.

“It screwed me up for a few days,” White told MMAjunkie following Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 60 event in Broomfield, Colo. “I was messed up for a few days after that. I’ve been a huge Anderson Silva fan, too. But we’ll talk about that on Wednesday.”

That’s when White and UFC Chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta are scheduled to give a news conference in Las Vegas to address the recent spate of high-profile PED failures involving UFC fighters. The press conference is expected to take place the morning of Feb. 18, though a location has not been announced.

Asked what to expect at the gathering, White said, “Lots of bad sh-t. We’re not going to be talking about fun things. We’ll address all the things that have happened lately, and what we’re going to do, and what’s going to happen from here on out.”

Early this past month, the promotion backed away from administering its own out-of-competition drug testing program, which is widely seen as the most effective deterrent to the use of banned substances. Then news broke of several failures, including UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones, Silva, onetime welterweight title challenger Nick Diaz and welterweight Hector Lombard.

In each case, the UFC issued a statement on the matter backing the athletic commission that regulated the events that produced the failures, the Nevada State Athletic Commission. White said the promotion would defer to the state agency when it came to anti-doping measures.

Now, however, the UFC might be forced to take a tougher stand on PED use.

As MMAjunkie previously reported, Silva (34-6 MMA, 17-2 UFC) failed a second test in connection to his fight with Diaz at UFC 183 and is expected to face additional discipline. The NSAC has not confirmed a second positive test, but is expected to address the ex-champ’s case on Feb. 17 during a regular meeting.

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For complete coverage of UFC 183, check out the UFC Events section of the site.