Sean O’Malley Accepts Six Month Suspension From USADA
Sean O’Malley can finally put his saga with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) behind him. On Thursday, USADA confirmed that the 25 year old will receive a six month suspension, after concluding that he hadn’t intentionally ingested any performance enhancing substances.
‘Sugar’ Sean has been dealing with drug testing issues since late 2018, when he was pulled from UFC 229 due to testing positive for ostarine. After receiving a six month suspension, O’Malley was scheduled to return in July of last year at UFC 239 but was again flagged for for testing positive for ostarine.
In a statement, USADA announced thatO’Malley had accepted a reduced six month sanction, consistent with other supplement contamination cases.
“O’Malley, 25, tested positive for ostarine as the result of out-of-competition urine samples he provided on August 6, 2019 and August 12, 2019. His two positives, as well as additional positives collected after August 12, 2019, were treated as a single violation because the estimated concentration of ostarine in the urine samples was consistent with ingestion prior to August 29, 2019, the date O’Malley received notification of his second violation. In addition, the pattern of low urinary ostarine concentrations observed in multiple samples provided by O’Malley was consistent with exposure to ostarine as a contaminant.”
USADA’s statement went on to say that they found no evidence of intentional use.
“After a thorough investigation into O’Malley’s positive tests, including extensive follow-up testing, his agreement to keep a food log, his increased level of care in selecting supplements, and finding no evidence of intentional use, USADA resolved O’Malley’s case with a six-month period of ineligibility. O’Malley’s period of ineligibility began on August 6, 2019, the date his positive sample was collected.”
O’Malley’s six month suspension is retroactive to August 6th of last year. That means he will be eligible to return after February 6th. He already has his next fight is booked against Jose Quinonez, at UFC 248 on March 7th. This was originally scheduled for UFC 247 but was pushed back a month, to be safe.
The unbeaten O’Malley hasn’t competed since UFC 222 in March of 2018, when he beat Andre Soukhamthath via unanimous decision.
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