USADA announced that George Sullivan tested positive for a prohibited substance and has accepted a one-year sanction for his second violation of the UFC anti-doping policy.
The 36 year old tested positive for clomiphene and its metabolite 4-hydroxyclomiphene. Sullivan was pulled from his fight at UFC 208 this past February after he was informed of a potential violation from an out-of-competition test from January 14, 2017. He cited a prescription medication as the cause for the flagged test. Upon a review of Sullivan’s medical records by USADA, it was determined that he was using Clomiphene Citrate under the care of a physician to treat a medical condition. The problem was that the use was an “off-label” treatment of the drug (it was a prescription fertility medication) and not approved by the USFDA for use by males.
Since Sullivan was under the care of medical physician, his period of ineligibility was reduced by 1 year.
You might recall that he was pulled from his fight at UFC on Fox 20 in July for disclosing information to USADA and was issued a provisional suspension.
Sullivan is 3-2 in the UFC. Sullivan’s period of ineligibility is retroactive to his out of competition test on January 14, 2017.
Payout Perspective:
This is an interesting case since Sullivan previous provisional suspension occurred when he declared a prohibited substance last July. He was just days away from serving that suspension when he is issued another year’s suspension. Obviously, the “off-label” use of a drug carries different connotations but is not out of the ordinary with physicians. Unfortunately, USADA will not yield on these types of matters..
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