MMA fighter George Sullivan is facing a suspension after being flagged for a potential anti-doping violation, the UFC announced Wednesday via Marc Raimondi of MMAFighting.com.
The 35-year-old welterweight was originally pulled from the UFC on Fox 20 card that was scheduled for July 23. He would have faced Hector Urbina.
UFC released this statement after pulling him, via Tristen Critchfield of Sherdog.com:
UFC competitor George Sullivan voluntarily disclosed information to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) that could pose a potential compliance issue with the UFC Anti-Doping Policy. Out of an abundance of caution, Sullivan has been removed from his scheduled bout on Saturday night against Hector Urbina while USADA conducts an investigation into the matter.
A surprised Sullivan was quick to point out that he had alerted the USADA about a natural supplement he was and has been taking, via his Facebook:
But according to Raimondi, the USADA said that the substance was a high-risk "dietary supplement" and that Sullivan declared it in a sample collected outside of UFC competition.
The length of a possible suspension has not been disclosed as of yet, but that will obviously come if Sullivan is indeed found guilty of violating UFC policy.
Sullivan is 17-5 in his MMA career but has lost two of his last three matches. Most recently, Alexander Yakovlev knocked him out in the first round on Jan. 30.
