Tom Lawlor informed of potential anti-doping violation

Longtime UFC light heavyweight and huge favorite of The Underground Tom Lawlor has been flagged for a potential anti-doping violation. The out of competition test was administered on October 10 by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the UFC’s independent drug testing agency.

Lawlor has been suspended pending a full investigation.

The UFC organization was notified today that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has informed Tom Lawlor of a potential Anti-Doping violation stemming from an out-of-competition sample collected on October 10, 2016, wrote the UFC in a now unfortunately familiar statement. USADA has provisionally suspended Lawlor based on the potential anti-doping violation.

USADA, the independent administrator of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, will handle the results management and appropriate adjudication of this case. It is important to note that, under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, there is a full fair legal review process that is afforded to all athletes before any sanctions are imposed. Consistent with all previous potential anti-doping violations, additional information or UFC statements will be provided at the appropriate time as the process moves forward.

There is no information on whether or not the test was flagged for a PED or for what are categorized by USADA as specified substances due to the greater likelihood of a credible non-doping explanation. The penalty for testing positive for a specified substance ranges from a public warning to a maximum one-year suspension. First-time failure of a PED test carries a two-year suspension.

However, several fighters have had tests flagged and faced no suspension what so ever after an investigation. For example, welterweight Augusto Montano of Mexico, bantamweight Ning Guangyou of China, and welterweight Li Jingliang, also from China each tested positive for clenbuterol. An investigation concluded that the test was due to contaminated meat in their home nations.

Thus, having a test flagged and being provisionally suspended is not in an of itself being guilty of anything. For the record, Lawlor doesn’t even take sports supplements. He made his thoughts on PEDs abundantly clear in a 2012 post on The UG.

This is him right now:

https://twitter.com/FilthyTomLawlor/status/794427383512055808

“>November 4, 2016