Sean O’Malley USADA tests come back positive from residual Ostarine levels

Sean O’Malley is out of his July 6 fight with Marlon Vera according to the bantamweight in an Instagram post.  Coming off of a six month suspension, O’Malley could be facing another USADA suspension as he stated that a recent test found Ostarine in his system.

O’Malley was coming off of a suspension for a finding of Ostarine in a contaminated supplement.

 

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Punished twice for doing nothing wrong. I have never taken anything illegal. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I will continue to train and get better everyday. “You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength” -Marcus Aurelius

A post shared by Sugar Sean O’Malley (@sugaseanmma) on Jun 21, 2019 at 4:50pm PDT

He stated in his Instagram post that two recent tests have found Ostarine.  He claims that USADA believes that his tests are related to residual from last level and “the low level is not providing me with no performance advantage,” per O’Malley’s social media post.

A similar situation occurred with Jon Jones and Turinabol when USADA determined that the trace amounts would not give him an advantage.

Payout Perspective:

O’Malley seems upset with this outcome but one has to wonder if USADA and the UFC are now changing its standard when it comes to drug testing.  As it did with Jon Jones, it is now focusing on whether or not the banned substance in the system would give the athlete a “performance advantage” versus a zero-tolerance standard which would hold the athlete responsible for what they ingested.  Obviously, the issue of contaminated substances may be factored in to consideration which may be O’Malley’s argument.  Yet, it’s still seems like a shift on how USADA addresses drug test failures.