USADA Releases Statement Announcing Jesse Taylor’s PED Suspension

In just over three months, The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 25 winner Jesse Taylor’s UFC return has gone from one of the most motivating comeback stories to yet another cautionary tale of self-inflicted career sabotage for the dominant wrestler.

It began when Taylor steamrolled his way to the finals of 2007’s TUF 5 only to see himself kicked off the show due to a drunken rampage in Las Vegas. Despite the escapade, he was given a UFC fight and lost, but rebounded with a long win streak in regional promotions over the next several years. He was given a second chance in the UFC on TUF 25: Redemption, a show that seemed tailor-made for his story, yet he’s now faced with another career-threatening hiccup due to performance-enhancing drugs.

Taylor had been scheduled to face Belal Muhammad at November 18’s UFC Fight Night 121 from Sydney, Australia, but he was removed from the bout when he was handed a potential violation by USADA in an August 22nd out-of-competition screen. Taylor posted online that he and his team were working to get to the bottom of the situation, suggesting they would contest the ruling, but today we’ve found out they took another route.

In an official statement released online by USADA, the UFC’s official anti-doping partner announced that Taylor had tested positive for clomiphene, which causes the secretion of testosterone and could thereby increase strength and athletic performance. The drug is the same banned substance that Brock Lesnar and Jon Jones were flagged for at UFC 200.

Taylor accepted the maximum penalty of a one-year suspension for his first violation.

Read USADA’s statement here:

USADA announced today that UFC^® athlete, Jesse Taylor, of San Diego, Calif., has tested positive for a prohibited substance and accepted the maximum one-year sanction for his anti-doping policy violation.

Taylor, 34, tested positive for clomiphene following an out-of-competition urine test conducted on August 22, 2017. Clomiphene is a Specified Substance in the class of Hormone and Metabolic Modulators and is prohibited at all times under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List.

Clomiphene is not approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the male population, as its use has not been thoroughly studied for safety and efficacy. Clomiphene also indirectly promotes the secretion of testosterone. Increasing testosterone, especially when combined with strength training, has been demonstrated to increase fat-free mass, muscle size, and strength in males, potentially leading to performance enhancement in sport.

Taylor’s one-year period of ineligibility, the highest sanction for a first offense involving a Specified Substance, began on September 13, 2017, the date his provisional suspension was imposed. As a result of his positive test, Taylor was removed from the Card for the UFC Fight Night event in Sydney, Australia, scheduled for November 18, 2017.