UFC news: Yoel Romero, USADA reached agreement on shortened suspension
UFC fighter Yoel Romero sees himself fighting in the Octagon sooner than expected, as he and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) have agreed to a reduced sentence after the middleweight contender filed an appeal. Instead of a suspension that usually consists of at least a year, he accepted the deal of six months after testing positive for a banned substance.
According to FOX Sports, Romero was found to have Ibutamoren in his system. This substance is described as a type of growth hormone and is officially classified as illegal by the standards of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). During the hearing, Romero said that he got it from a supplement he took right after winning a close fight against Ronaldo Souza at UFC 194 in December of last year.
Part of the USADA statement on the matter reads:
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Following notification of his positive test, Romero provided USADA with access to the dietary supplement products he was using at the time of the relevant sample collection. Although Ibutamoren was not listed on any of the supplement labels, preliminary testing conducted on one of the products indicated that it contained the prohibited substance. The presence of an undisclosed prohibited substance in a product is regarded as contamination.
Meanwhile, his six-month suspension has a retroactive effect since he already was informed about the positive drug test back in January and was subsequently suspended from fighting. So if the suspension started in January, he will officially be eligible to fight again by July.
Romero will be pursuing legal action against the manufacturer of the supplement he took, saying that it was contaminated and that he did not have a clue that it contained a banned substance.
So in just a little over four months, Romero is expected to see action inside the Octagon once again.
