UFC bantamweight Duda Santana (Eduarda Neves Santana) has accepted a one-year sanction from USADA, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, stemming from a previously reported drug test failure in January of 2020.
Santana (3-1), of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, tested positive for LGD-4033 and its metabolite dihydroxy-LGD-4033, in an out-of-competition urine test collected on January 10, 2020. The substance is a selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM), banned at all times under the UFC’s Anti-Doping Policy.
USADA officials announced the news in a press release Friday, adding that Santana’s case was resolved under the revised UFC Anti-Doping Policy and Prohibited List, which took effect January 1, 2021 and was announced publicly yesterday. The current Prohibited List sets a default suspension of one year for SARM usage.
Unlike most USADA cases, Santana’s had become public knowledge well before her sanction was handed down. In September, Santana’s manager, Alex Davis, told MMA Fighting that the athlete had been suspended two years because of the incident. He also alleged that the promotion had cut Santana as a result.
Davis told the site that Santana was “very poor and ended up buying supplements from unreliable sources, resulting in another case of contaminated supplements.” He noted that her team chose not to appeal, as she had already thrown out the supplements.
It appears, however, that Santana’s two-year sanction was never official. And under the revised UFC Anti-Doping Policy, the fighter, who has not competed since a June 2019 loss to Bea Malecki (Santana’s lone UFC bout), has seen the sanction halved.
UFC officials did not respond to a request to clarify Santana’s contract status Friday. However, the promotion did issue its own version of Friday’s press release via its website, which makes no mention of Santana’s release.
As Santana’s suspension is retroactive to the date of her positive test being collected, she is already eligible to return to competition.
