USADA Upholds Yoel Romero’s Suspension

Yoel Romero (11-1) was informed on January 12th, 2016 that he potentially tested positive for a failed drug test taken out-of-competition. His team insisted that it was due to a tainted supplement that caused him to fail his USADA test, however, and the supplement was indeed found to have had the incriminating substance in it despite not listing it on the label.

“The substance has a label with a bunch of stuff on it,” his manager Malki Kawa said in an interview days after the news broke. “None of that is illegal to take. What he got popped for is not on the label. So it’s obviously not his fault that he popped for this.”

“I don’t expect it to be two years,” Kawa said. “I don’t think two years would be fair.”

But even though the supplement was found to be the culprit — or at least to some degree — Romero will apparently still receive a suspension, although he doesn’t plan to accept it.

Ariel Helwani reported on Wednesday that USADA has given Romero a suspension, and he has decided to appeal the suspension. The middleweight is now headed to arbitration. No word yet on how long the suspension is for.

“Confirmed that USADA has given Yoel Romero a suspension, per sources. He has decided to appeal and will be going to arbitration.“

Confirmed that USADA has given Yoel Romero a suspension, per sources. He has decided to appeal and will be going to arbitration.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) March 23, 2016

Romero last fought at UFC 194 when he defeated Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza on the main card, and is currently on a seven-fight winning streak. Following the fight, he was considered as a potential #1 contender for Luke Rockhold’s middleweight title, but obviously his future as a title contender is now on hold as his puzzling suspension situation gets mulled over in an appeal.