LAS VEGAS – Helena mixed martial arts fighter Sean O’Malley has been removed from the card at UFC 229 after failing a drug test administered by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).
O’Malley broke the new himself on social media, claiming that a tainted supplement caused the failed test. He believes over-the-counter caffeine pills were to blame.
“It’s called ostarine,” O’Malley told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani. “I guess that’s the one that catches everyone that is kind of in all these random pills. I feel like there has to be a new rule implemented or something, because this has happened too many times.
“Obviously the ingredients on the caffeine pills are all USADA-approved, but what wasn’t in the ingredients is what I popped for, so it sucks.”
O’Malley (10-0) was set to fight Jose Quinonez in the featured preliminary bout on the UFC 229 card in Las Vegas on Friday Oct. 6.
It’s unclear what happens next for the Helena native. O’Malley said he sent in the product he believe to be tainted to the USADA for testing but will have to wait three or four weeks before results are available.
O’Malley told Helwani that he faces a six-month suspension but hopes for a more lenient punishment if USADA can determine the source of the positive test.
