Yaozong Hu Accepts Sanction for Violation of UFC Anti-Doping Policyhttps://t.co/xmqq6tGC4W pic.twitter.com/hLrHac9o0c
— USADA | UFC Anti-Doping Program (@USADA_UFC) June 14, 2019
Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight Yaozong Hu has accepted a 10-month suspension from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency after testing positive for a prohibited substance.
Hu (3-2) has been suspended 10 months after testing positive for a banned substance, USADA announced in a statement. He tested positive for arimistane and its metabolite, as a result of a dietary supplement that contained these substances.
Due to his cooperation with USADA, his suspension was lowered from one year to 10 months, despite that he discovered the supplement contained these substances after the fact. His suspension is retroactive to the date of his failed test, and he can compete again in January 2020.
The 24-year-old last fought back in November at UFC Fight Night 141, where he lost to Rashad Coulter to drop his second fight in a row. Prior to those losses, he finished his first three opponents to earn a shot in the UFC.
USADA’s statement regarding Hu is as follows:
USADA announced today that Yaozong Hu, of Beijing, China, has accepted a 10-month sanction for a violation of the UFC® Anti-Doping Policy after testing positive for a prohibited substance.
Hu, 24, tested positive for androsta-3,5-diene-7,17-dione (arimistane) and its metabolite 7β-hydroxy-androst-3,5-diene-17-one as the result of a urine sample provided out-of-competition on March 9, 2019. Androsta-3,5-diene-7,17-dione is a Specified Substance in the class of Hormone and Metabolic Modulators and prohibited at all times under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.
Following an investigation into the circumstances of Hu’s case, USADA concluded that Hu’s positive test was caused by his use of a dietary supplement and that he was eligible for a minor reduction to the otherwise applicable one-year period of ineligibility for a doping offense involving a Specified Substance. The minor reduction is based on Hu’s cooperation throughout the results management process and efforts made to investigate the safety of the supplement prior to use, even though he subsequently realized that the product listed a prohibited substance on the label.
Hu’s 10-month period of ineligibility began on March 9, 2019, the date his positive sample was collected.