UFC bantamweight star Sean O’Malley will be forced to sit out six months thanks to a positive drug test for ostarine, a common culprit in tainted supplements.
After announcing his own positive drug test just weeks ago, Sean O’Malley has been handed a six month suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. And as suspensions go for banned substances, it could be worse. O’Malley, who pointed to a tainted dietary supplement as the culprit, could have received up to a two year ban from the sport as a result of his drug test failure.
However, on Wednesday, the NSAC revealed (via MMA Junkie) that O’Malley would sit out just six months. That makes him eligible to return on March 6. Given O’Malley tested positive before a fight (ergo not receiving any income), and since he co-operated with the investigation, the commission saw fit to reduce his sentence considerably. “Circumstances in which the respondent takes responsibility for the adverse analytical finding,” an Attorney General rep clarified to MMA Junkie, grants “the commission the discretion to deviate from the standard and to reduce the suspension by 50 percent.”
Outside of a small fee for costs, no fine was imposed, since O’Malley had not fought.
Despite a recent UFC policy change which sees fighters’ positive drug tests not announced until the legal process plays out, O’Malley went ahead an announced his failure himself. The young bantamweight standout, who rose to fame quickly after appearing on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, had been expected to appear at UFC 229 in October.
Instead, he’ll sit out til March.
