UFC strawweight Cynthia Calvillo has been given what amounts to a slap on the wrist following a positive drug test for marijuana metabolites.
It didn’t take long for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to mete out punishment for UFC strawweight Cynthia Calvillo. In a press release distributed on Wednesday, USADA, who oversees the UFC’s anti-doping program, announced that Calvillo had accepted a six month suspension linked to her previously announced drug test failure for marijuana. Specifically, Calvillo failed for Carboxy-THC, a metabolite of marijuana and hashish. The failure was originally announced back in January, making this one of the quicker USADA sanctions.
The six months, however, can be reduced to three should Calvillo complete a drug awareness program. From Wednesday’s USADA release:
Calvillo accepted a six-month period of ineligibility, which began on December 30, 2017, and may be reduced to a three-month period of ineligibility, pending the satisfactory completion of a USADA-approved drug awareness and management program. Calvillo’s positive test also falls under the jurisdiction of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which may impose additional sanctions, including fines or a period of ineligibility that is longer than the period set forth above.
Pursuant to the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, all UFC athletes serving a period of ineligibility for an anti-doping policy violation are required to continue to make themselves available for testing in order to receive credit for time completed under their sanction.
Suffice to say, the drug awareness and management program will not be taught by Nate Diaz, though he seems very aware of the drug involved in this particular case.
On a more serious note, Calvillo, age 30, suffered the first loss of her professional career at UFC 219 in December, the event from which her failed drug test stems. She suffered a unanimous decision defeat at the hands of former 115lb champion Carla Esparza.
