Jim Wallhead had been notified by USADA about a potential out of competition drug test failure from a sample collected on October 7 of 2017.
The fighter has since announced that he has accepted a nine month suspension from the United States Anti-Doping Agency.
Wallhead made the announcement via Twitter:
Please RT. pic.twitter.com/wcCYD9xyUe
— Judo Jimmy Wallhead (@JudoJimmy) February 6, 2018
USADA gave the fighter a reduced suspension because the dietary supplement the fighter was taken had an illegal substance in it. The drug testing agency also felt that Wallhead had no clue that an illegal substance was in the supplement, which is why he got a less severe punishment.
A statement was also issued on the matter from USADA:
“Although no prohibited substances were listed on the supplement label, testing conducted on an independently sourced, unopened container of the product by the WADA-accredited laboratory in Salt Lake City, Utah, indicated that it contained ostarine. The presence of an undisclosed prohibited substance in a product is regarded as contamination. Accordingly, the product has since been added to the High Risk List of supplements maintained on USADA’s online dietary supplement safety education and awareness resource.”
Due to the suspension being retroactive to the date of the failed test (10/7/2017), a happy Wallhead is able to compete again on July 7 of this year.