Jake Collier accepts ten-month USADA suspension

UFC light heavyweight Jake Collier, 30, has accepted a ten-month suspension for testing positive for a banned substance in an out-of-competition sample. Once again, a process that was initiated to prevent the use of Performance Enhancing Drugs has caught someone who wasn’t.

The fighter explains via Twitter:

To my fans and supporters,

I just wanted to touch base with you after the news has been announced of my sanction. First of all, I would NEVER purposely put any illegal substance in my body to gain a competitive edge. I’d rather lose than cheat.

Returning from a surgery after an injury in my last fight, I went out to the local supplement store and purchased a pre-workout that was recommended by their staff that I have worked with previously. Unfortunately, there was a substance in the product that was listed on the label and on the USADA prohibited list that we were unaware of. For that simple mistake, I have accepted a 10-month suspension. During this process, my wife and I have already taken action in learning the proper system to research produce names and ingredients. This has been quite a learning lesson and I take full responsibility for my mistake and apologize.

Thank you to my team, my management Empire Sports, Donna Marcolini, and Jeff Novitzky with UFC for their continued support. I can’t wait to get back to work in the Octagon.

Official Statement from USADA:

Rodney Jake Collier, of Union, Mo., has accepted a 10-month sanction for a violation of the UFC® Anti-Doping Policy after declaring the use of a product that listed and contained a prohibited substance, and testing positive for that prohibited substance.

Collier, 30, tested positive for Higenamine as the result of an out-of-competition urine sample he provided on December 27, 2018. Higenamine is a Specified Substance in the class of Beta-2 Agonists and prohibited at all times under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.

Research indicates that Higenamine may act as a general stimulant and may be found in some pre-workout, energy, or weight-loss products. Even low risk supplements may be riskier than they appear. As such, USADA reminds athletes to check supplement labels for Higenamine (also known as norcoclaurine) or Higenamine plant-based sources (Aconite, Annona squamosal, Nandina domestica, Tinospora crispa, and others).

USADA determined that Collier was eligible for a reduction to the otherwise standard one-year period of ineligibility due his cooperation throughout the results management process and forthright declaration of the supplement on his doping control form. Collier’s 10-month period of ineligibility began on December 27, 2018, the date his positive sample was collected.

Collier will be eligible to return on 10/27. And MMA has been saved from the devastating scourge of Higenamine.