USADA has sanctioned Yair Rodriguez for violating the UFC Anti-Doping Policy for not updating his Whereabouts information during a 12-month period. Rodriguez has accepted a six-month sanction.
At his post-event press conference for UFC on ESPN 18, Dana White was vague regarding a question came up about Rodriguez and when he might fight again. He asked one of his staff whether they had spoken publicly about Rodriguez and then stated that they would know soon.
On Thursday, USADA released information on the 28-year-old and his sanction. He had failed to update his Whereabouts information and was unavailable for testing at places he had listed with USADA. According to the release he had “accrued a Whereabouts Failure in each of the first three quarters of 2020.” His six-month period of ineligibility began on September 8, 2020, the date on which his third Whereabouts Failure was declared against him.
Notably, Nick Diaz was sanctioned by USADA for a similar infraction.
Payout Perspective:
The good news is that Rodriguez was not sanctioned for an illegal substance. However, the simple updating of information could have saved him from being suspended for 6 months. Even with the pandemic and subsequent shutdown, UFC athletes were required to continue to let USADA know of their whereabouts in the case of testing. Without this informing USADA, Rodriguez was subject to discipline. He has not fought since last October and will hopefully be back in the spring of 2021.
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