Frank Franklin II/Associated Press
UFC flyweight fighter Rachael Ostovich has accepted a one-year ban for violating the organization’s anti-doping policy, the United States Anti-Doping Agency announced Thursday.
Ostovich tested positive for ostarine—a substance similar to anabolic steroids—on January 3 as she was preparing to face Shana Dobson at UFC Fight Night 168 in February. The ban is retroactive to the date of the test, leaving her out of the sport until early January 2021.
By the time her suspension ends, Ostovich will be nearly two years removed from her last bout: a loss to Paige VanZant at UFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs. Dillashaw in January 2019. Ostovich (4-5) hasn’t won a UFC matchup since recording a submission against Montana De La Rosa at The Ultimate Fighter 26 Finale in December 2017.
The USADA statement says Ostovich had submitted a supplement to a World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited laboratory in Salt Lake City, Utah, but ostarine was not listed on the supplement’s label. The label did, however, list a separate banned substance that Ostovich claims she didn’t know was prohibited.
The punishment from USADA is considered less severe due to Ostovich’s “Full and Complete Cooperation.”
Per USADA:
“Under the revised UFC ADP, if a situation arises where an athlete tests positive and is able to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that the cause of the positive test was due to a supplement certified by one of the certifiers in the UFC rules, he or she will not be subject to an anti-doping policy violation and will be permitted to compete after follow-up testing and when there is no performance enhancing benefit in question. In this case, the supplement Ostovich identified was not a Certified Supplement, and she is therefore subject to an anti-doping policy violation.”
The 29-year-old Hawaii native was replaced by Priscila Cachoeira at UFC Fight Night 168, who ended up earning a knockout victory over Dobson to snap a three-fight losing streak.
