After defeating Andrei Arlovski at UFC 232, Walt Harris failed a drug test and has been suspended for four months.
Walt Harris got the biggest win of his career at UFC 232. Harris had been fighting on and off with the UFC since 2013, and picked up a big win over the former champion in December, breaking into the top-15 of the heavyweight rankings. The loss marked the third in a row for Arlovski, however, that third loss is now a no contest thanks to USADA, and the California State Athletic Commission.
Following the win over Arlovski, Harris tested positive for anabolic agent LGD-4033. The agent is reportedly similar to Ostarine, and caused Harris’s win over the former champion to be changed to a no contest by the California State Athletic Commission. While that news was previously revealed by the commission, it was also announced this week that Harris would be suspended four months by USADA in addition to his bout result being overturned.
The reason for the very short suspension comes from Harris being able to prove that a tainted supplement was the reason behind his drug test failure. It’s also worth noting that his suspension is retroactive to the date of the fight, December 29. So when April 29 comes around, Walt Harris can fight again.
As a result of Harris’s retroactive suspension, he is still scheduled to fight UFC newcomer Sergey Spivak at UFC Ottawa on May 4. He was originally scheduled to fight Aleksei Oleinik for the Ottawa card, however, Oleinik stepped in for Alexander Volkov at UFC St. Petersburg this past week. Oleinik faced Alistair Overeem in the main event, and lost via first-round TKO.
