California State Athletic Commission Executive Director Andy Foster has suspended Brian “T-City” Ortega for nine months, fined him $2,500, and changed his win over Mike de la Torre from a win by submission by rear naked choke at 1:39 seconds of round one to a No Contest.

A post-fight urine test administered by a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) revealed that Ortega had been taking taking the anabolic steroid drostanolone.

Ortega offered a heartfelt apology.

In preparation for my UFC debut, I used a banned substance called drostanalone,” confessed Ortega. “It was an irresponsible decision that I will regret for the rest of my life. I apologize to my family, friends, fans, the UFC and everyone else who was affected by my selfish actions. It should be known that my coaches were totally unaware of my decisions, and I am ashamed that I let down the people who believed in me more than I believed in myself.

Going forward, I’d rather lose a fair fight to any opponent, than defeat myself the way I have done,

Drostanolone is the same steroid that Kevin Casey tested for in his first ever UFC fight. Casey is the former RFA middleweight champ. Ortega is the former RFA featherweight champion.

While having two fighters from RFA test positive within a month might to some point to a possible connection. RFA is run by Blackhouse co-founder Ed Soares, whose reputation is above reproach, and indeed his goal with the organization is to show that promotion can be done decently and ethically. With a massive roster of fighters, the team has had only three positive PED tests in its history. The unfortunate succession of positive tests is yet another sign that the sport has a massive problem with PEDs, but does not point towards anything untoward going on at Blackhouse.

Ortega’s record now drops to 8-0-0 (1 NC).