Yair Rodriguez suspended for six months by USADA
UFC featherweight contender Yair Rodriguez has received a six-month suspension by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).
Announced by USADA on Thursday, Rodriguez’s suspension stems from a whereabouts violation as opposed to a failed drugs test. ‘El Pantera’ is now ineligible to compete until March 8th, 2021 with his hiatus beginning retroactively on September 8th, 2020.
“Like all UFC athletes, Rodriguez, 28, is a member of the UFC Registered Testing Pool and is therefore subject to certain Whereabouts responsibilities, which allow him to be located for testing,” USADA said in a statement. “Accurate Whereabouts information is a crucial component of an effective out-of-competition testing program because it enables anti-doping organizations to conduct no-notice sample collections, which helps maintain effective doping deterrence and detection.
“Rodriguez failed to update his Whereabouts information and was unavailable for testing at locations provided in his Whereabouts Filings on three occasions. He accrued a Whereabouts Failure in each of the first three quarters of 2020. The accumulation of three Whereabouts Failures within a 12-month period constitutes a policy violation under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy.”
Rodriguez had been slated for a long-awaited match up with fellow top featherweight Zabit Magomedsharipov in the new year but the contest has been forced onto the scrap heap yet again due to the 28-year olds suspension.