USADA and Romero reach settlement
Ariel Helwani reports for MMA Fighting that USADA and Yoel Romero’s teach have reached a settlement over a failed PED test and will avoid arbitration.
UFC middleweight Yoel Romero, 38, failed a Performance Enhancing Drug test in December, and was suspended by USADA, the UFC’s third party testing service. The fighter and former Olympic silver medalist in wrestling had been on track for a title shot, following a seven-fight win streak in the UFC, most recently an uninspired split decision over Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza.
However, USADA has a process to contest suspensions through an independent arbitrator, and Romero planned to avail himself of that, arguing that he took the PEDs inadvertently, via a contaminated dietary supplement.
Now Ariel Helwani reports for MMA Fighting that USADA and Romero’s team have reached a settlement.
According to sources close to the situation, the two sides have settled on a suspension that will be less than nine months long from the time it was announced that Romero had a “potential Anti-Doping policy” violation in early January following his win over Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza in December.
Two weeks ago, it was reported that Romero was going to appeal the two-year suspension suggested by USADA, however, according to sources, both sides were recently able to avoid the arbitration hearing by settling beforehand. Romero would have been the first UFC fighter to appeal a USADA suspension.
While the substance that Romero tested positive for has never been officially revealed, both Romero and his team have maintained from the beginning that he took a dietary supplement that was contaminated with a banned substance.
“The substance has a label with a bunch of stuff on it,” Romero’s manager Malki Kawa said on a February episode of The MMA Hour. “None of that is illegal to take. What he got popped for is not on the label. So it’s obviously not his fault that he popped for this.”
USADA is expected to officially announce the shorter settlement suspension in the near future, and if all goes to plan, the 38-year-old Romero could be free to fight again in late summer.
The two parties agreed to a six-month ban. Romero’s ineligibility began Jan. 12, 2016, so he’ll be eligible to fight again on June 11, 2016.