Directly after Yoel Romero defeated Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza, he was number two in the UFC’s middleweight division and was ready for his title shot. All of the sudden, something happened that we all know too well about. Romero was hit with a violation from USADA. After a long period of ups-and-downs, it was found out and proven to be a tainted supplement. According to a report first released by Forbes, Yoel Romero and his team are now suing the supplement company that caused his anti-doping violation, resulting in a suspension.
“[Yoel] Romero, 38, tested positive for Ibutamoren following an out-of-competition test conducted on December 16, 2015 in Miami, Florida. Ibutamoren is a Growth Hormone Secretagogue and a prohibited substance in the class of Peptide Hormones, Growth Factors, Related Substances and Mimetics under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List. Following notification of his positive test, Romero provided USADA with access to the dietary supplement products he was using at the time of the relevant sample collection.”
I’m not sure where this Yoel supp thing is not clear. USADA INDEPENDENTLY TESTED A BOTTLE DIRECT FROM THE MANUFACTURER AMD IT WAS TAINTED!
— malki kawa (@malkikawa) April 5, 2016
“Although Ibutamoren was not listed on any of the supplement labels, preliminary testing conducted on one of the products indicated that it contained the prohibited substance. The presence of an undisclosed prohibited substance in a product is regarded as contamination. At USADA’s request, the WADA-accredited laboratory in Salt Lake City, Utah, independently obtained and analyzed the contents of an unopened container of the supplement in question. That testing conclusively confirmed that a supplement Romero used was contaminated with Ibutamoren.” — via USADA’s official website.
The comments from USADA were from April 2016, but now thanks to this new report we have even more details. Yoel Romero’s container of Shred RX, the supplement in question, contained approximately 5 micrograms of Ibutamoren per capsule. When USADA bought a brand new bottle of the supplement, they found even higher concentrations (approximately 12 micrograms) of Ibutamoren. Aside from this complaint and following legal battle, Romero will also look to earn his redemption in a fight with Luke Rockhold at UFC 221.
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 1/16/2018.