George Sullivan suspended for one year, never failed test

UFC welterweight George Sullivan has been suspended for one year by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) yet never failed an anti-doping test.

Sullivan disclosed that he was taking a prohibited substance, via a mislabeled product. That got him removed from UFC on FOX 20 in July. There was an investigation, and he was suspended, retroactive to January 31, his last fight in the Octagon. The one year is half the two-year suspension that is normally given for a first time PED test failure.

via UFC Athlete, Sullivan, Accepts Sanction for Anti-Doping Policy Violation

” target=”_blank”>ufc.usada.org.

USADA announced today that UFC® athlete, George Sullivan, of Red Bank, N.J., has accepted a one-year sanction for an anti-doping policy violation after declaring the use of a prohibited substance contained in a product that was inaccurately labeled. Although Sullivan did not test positive for any prohibited substances, under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, the admission of use of a prohibited substance or product containing a prohibited substance is regarded as an anti-doping policy violation.

Sullivan, 35, declared the use of Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1) on his sample collection paperwork when describing his use of a deer antler velvet product during an out-of-competition test conducted on July 13, 2016. IGF-1 is a prohibited substance in the class of Peptide Hormones, Growth Factors, Related Substances, and Mimetics, and prohibited at all times under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.

Following Sullivan’s declaration, USADA initiated an investigation regarding the product declared by Sullivan on his sample collection paperwork. During the course of that investigation, Sullivan provided USADA with information about the supplement product he was referring to when he declared IGF-1.

Although no prohibited substances were specifically listed on the Supplement Facts label, the manufacturer claimed on the product website that each bottle of the product contains an extremely high concentration of IGF-1. Detailed analysis subsequently conducted by the WADA-accredited laboratory in Salt Lake City, Utah, confirmed the presence of IGF-1 in the product, which has since been added to the list of high risk supplements maintained on USADA’s online dietary supplement safety education and awareness resource – Supplement 411 (www.supplement411.org).

Under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, as well as the World Anti-Doping Code, an athlete’s period of ineligibility for using a prohibited substance may be decreased if the athlete lacks significant fault for the anti-doping policy violation. In this instance, USADA determined that Sullivan’s reduced degree of fault and his forthright declaration of the product at issue justified a reduction to one year from the maximum two-year period of ineligibility.

Sullivan’s one-year period of ineligibility began on January 31, 2016, the day after his most recent UFC bout.

Sullivan was absolutely adamant that he did not knowingly take anything. The USADA program that was intended to stop fighters in the UFC from taking PEDs has turned out to be something else. Fighters are failing tests for minute traces of something potentially related to PED use like Jon Jones, or failing nothing at all like Sullivan. This part of the USADA program is not good for the sport.