UFC Lightweight Carlos Diego Ferreira Accepts 17-Month Suspension for Anti-Doping Violation

Carlos Diego Ferreira has accepted a 17-month suspension from USADA for declaring the use of a product that contained a prohibited substance and testing positive for another prohibited substance.

USADA announced the sanction on Wednesday. The UFC lightweight tested positive for ostarine in an out-of-competition drug test on April 29. Additionally, Ferreira declared the use of a product on his sample paperwork that contained the banned substance 7-keto-DHEA. Both ostatrine and 7-keto-DHEA are prohibited substances in the class of Anabolic Agents, according to the WADA Prohibited List.

“Following notification of his positive test, Ferreira tested several of the supplement products he was reportedly using at the time of his positive test. Although Ostarine was not listed on any of the supplement labels, preliminary testing conducted on the supplement product that listed 7-keto-DHEA as an ingredient indicated that it also contained Ostarine,” the USADA statement read.

“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 although the supplement only listed one prohibited substance as an ingredient (7-keto-DHEA), it actually contained 7-keto-DHEA and a second undeclared prohibited substance (Ostarine) as well. Ferreira advised USADA that although he researched the product prior to using it, he did not realize 7-keto-DHEA was a prohibited substance, or that the supplement contained Ostarine.”

Based on the circumstances of the anti-doping violation, USADA elected to reduce Ferreira’s suspension from two years to 17 months, retroactive to April 29. He will be eligible to return in September 2017. Ferreira had already been suspended for one year by the Nevada Athletic Commission for the positive test. However, according to the statement, the UFC will adhere to the lengthier punishment administered by USADA.

Ferreira is 3-2 during his promotional tenure and last competed at UFC on Fox 18 on Jan. 30, when he earned a unanimous decision triumph over Olivier Aubin-Mercier.