Former
UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett was notified in December of 2016 that he
tested positive after an out-of-competition sample collection. This March an
arbitrator ruled that Barnett’s positive drug test result was unintentional and
most likely caused by a tainted supplement. The arbitrators ruling was as
follows, “On the evidence before me, the applicant is not a drug cheat. He
unknowingly ingested a contaminated product. In so doing, he did commit an
anti-doping policy violation because he had a prohibited substance in his
sample, but he did not actively engage in attempting, in any way, to engage in
the use of the prohibited substance.” Barnett has failed drug tests before so a
failure wasn’t a surprise but in this case he didn’t do anything wrong and was
sidelined for 15 months. So he is suing the supplement company that provided him
with the tainted supplement. Barnett was taking something that supposedly
contained a natural and plant derived supplement but instead contained an
anabolic steroid. The suit claims that being suspended cost him a $275,000 UFC
fight and a number of expenses created by being suspended. |