UFC athlete Yaozong Hu has accepted a ten month suspension from USADA after a drug test failure back in March.
Yet again, a health supplement has landed a UFC fighter in hot water. This time, it’s China’s Yaozong Hu, who has been hit with a ten month suspension by USADA. The Anti-Doping agency, who handles the UFC’s Anti-Doping Policy, announced the news Friday in a press release.
Hu (3-2) has fought twice for the promotion, losing both outings. He made his debut at heavyweight, taking on Cyril Asker at UFC Shanghai in 2017. He followed that up with a move to light heavyweight, but lost to another former heavyweight, Rashad Coulter, at UFC Beijing in November 2018.
It will be a while before fans see Hu again. The fighter tested positive for arimistane and its metabolite 7β-hydroxy-androst-3,5-diene-17-one in an out-of-competition drug test on March 9, 2019. The substance falls under the class of Hormone and Metabolic Modulators. It’s prohibited from use at all times under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy.
The source in this case appears to have been a supplement. Per USADA’s press release, “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 reason for the reduction was Hu’s co-operation in the investigation, although the organization notes that “he subsequently realized that the product listed a prohibited substance on the label.”
