Issue 142

June 2016

Was USADA right to reduce the UFC middleweight’s suspension from two years to six months because he took a tainted supplement?

Yes

Dan Hardy

Former UFC title challenger and analyst for UFC Breakdown

To the best of my knowledge, the drug test he took right after his fight against ‘Jacare’ Souza (at UFC 194) was clean. It was the test he took a few days later that came back positive. The thing they found in the drug test, the reason he used it, was because his body was so swollen and bruised from the fight. 

So he took a herbal supplement he thought was clean, but it wasn’t. If that’s true then his sentence should be reduced. The criticism is with the supplement company and that whole industry. It exposes athletes and a lot of other people to contaminated substances. That needs sorting out, desperately.

No

Derek Brunson

Romero’s former opponent at 185lb

People need to call it for what it is. Don’t sugar coat it. We don’t want to hear that tainted substance. You know what you put in your body. If somebody comes to you with something, the first thing you’d do is hold on for a minute. 

Nobody gave you anything, you took it. If we were before USADA, he would have just owned up to it and took it but with USADA rules saying two years minimum, of course he’s going to try to make up anything to reduce the sentence. The dude deserves two years. There are a lot of hard-working athletes who are 100% clean out there that deserve better than this.

FO followers weigh in

YES

@ikeitho1888

The way it’s played out is satisfactory and highlights tainted supplements to others

NO

@sam_puncher

Cheats in every fight and we’re supposed to believe he’s not cheating his way out of this?

Twitter poll

Yes 37%

No 63%