Jessica Penne posted on her Instagram about her problems with USADA and her need to retire from the sport after receiving a 4-year ban. USADA has confirmed that the 36-year-old was flagged for stanozolol.
In 2017, Penne was flagged by USADA after review of her biological markers revealed the effects of doping over time rather than detecting the doping substance itself. This was the first time that a UFC athlete was flagged for this type of offense.
In an Instagram post, Penne indicated that she was being bullied by USADA and forced to retire from MMA.
She indicated that her physician had prescribed her an over the counter medication that would balance out her hormone levels. She decided to accept an 18-month suspension from USADA even though she believed she did not do anything wrong.
A scheduled return to the UFC in April 2019 was short-circuited due to another adverse test by USADA. She indicated that there were low-levels of stanozolol found in her system.
In her Instagram post, she stated that she has suffered financial strife as she has paid a third-party lab to clear her name. Unfortunately, it appears that all of her investment in her case as led to a denial by USADA.
Payout Perspective:
There are two sides to a story. The obvious social media post to her fans is a strategy in light of a potential go-fund me for her legal defense fund. Penne offers up heartfelt frustration to her situation as a 4-year suspension would put her at age 40 and an unlikely return to MMA. USADA’s statement to MMA Junkie reveals that Penne is taking her case to arbitration where it will likely plan to highlight purported factual inaccuracies it claims in her social media post. She did state that Jeff Novitsky and Donna Marcolini worked with her and believed her case. However, a third USADA employee she names “interrogated” Penne and claimed that she would be given a 4-year sanction unless she gave up names of PED using athletes.
You may see clear distinctions between Penne’s case and that of Nate Diaz and/or Jon Jones. In the case of Diaz and Jones, UFC and USADA worked with them in clearing their names and even went as far as to dismiss tests from Jones wherein he had low levels of the banned substance turinabol in his system. It also worked with Diaz to ensure that they found the tainted supplement that caused an adverse test revealed the week prior to UFC 244. As clarified through USADA’s statement, Penne is taking her case to arbitration which changed the dynamics of the sides in this case as it went from helpful to adversarial.
Unfortunately for Penne, she is in the same situation as Tom Lawlor and others that are faced with legal issues but do not have the funds to put on a full-blown case against USADA. We will see what becomes of this situation. MMA Payout will keep you posted.
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