UFC Welterweight Hector Lombard (34-4-1 1 NC) has been handed a 12 month suspension after failing a drug test for steroids in January.
Lombard tested positive for desoxymethyltestosterone, a banned anabolic steroid, after his unanimous decision win over Josh Burkman, and he was today handed a one year suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
He was also fined over $70k and had the victory overturned to a no contest.
In an uncomfortable start to the year for the UFC, numerous fighters on their roster tested positive for banned substances – one of the perpetrators being Cuban fighter Lombard.
With suggestions they ought to be doing more stamp out the use of PEDs, pressure ratcheted up on the organisation to hand out harsher penalties to deter its employees from cheating.
After a special press conference was held in February where they announced plans to eradicate the problem by enforcing more stringent, out of competition testing, some expected the UFC to make an example out of Lombard, perhaps by firing him.
But after the matter was left to the NSAC to deal with, the former judo Olympian can feel quite lucky, as the punishment he’s received is no more severe than the ones handed out for similar, past offences that occurred before this recent wave of positive tests.
At the hearing, Lombard said of the transgression that he’d taken a supplement given to him by a friend who told him it was ‘made from plants.’
He also apologised to the UFC, his fans, sponsors and Josh Burkman.
He’ll be eligible to compete again at the beginning of 2016.
