UFC middleweight Kelvin Gastelum accepts 9-month USADA sanction for second violation

Recent UFC interim title challenger Kelvin Gastelum has accepted a suspension from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for his second positive test for marijuana.

USADA on Monday announced Gastelum has accepted a nine-month sanction after testing positive for THC metabolites over the maximum limit. THC is the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

Gastelum received a five-month reduction to his sanction after the completion of a drug treatment program, USADA said in a statement.

His positive test comes from an in-competition sample collected Nov. 3, 2019, at UFC 244 in New York. At that event, which took place Nov. 2, Gastelum lost a split decision to Darren Till. About seven months prior, he lost a unanimous decision to Israel Adesanya at UFC 236 for the interim middleweight title.

USADA’s press release reads:

USADA announced today that Kelvin Gastelum, of Huntington Beach, Calif., has accepted a nine-month sanction for his second violation of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy (UFC APD) and received a five-month reduction to his sanction following the successful completion of a drug treatment program.
Gastelum, 28, tested positive for 11-nor-9-carboxy-tetrahydrocannabinol (Carboxy-THC) over the Decision Limit of 180 ng/mL, a urinary metabolite of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive constituent of cannabis, marijuana, and/or hashish as the result of a sample collected in-competition at UFC 244 New York, New York on November 3, 2019. Cannabis, marijuana, and hashish are Specified Substances in the class of Cannabinoids and prohibited in-competition under the UFC Prohibited List.
Under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, Cannabinoids are considered Substances of Abuse. If an athlete can establish that the Substance of Abuse was not used to enhance his or her performance in a bout, the athlete is eligible for a reduction to his or her period of ineligibility upon the full and satisfactory completion of an approved rehabilitation program. Gastelum also tested positive for Carboxy-THC in 2017 and accepted the resulting sanction.

Gastelum beat Vitor Belfort with a first-round TKO in March 2017 in the UFC Fight Night 106 main event in Brazil, but that victory was flipped to a no contest after his first positive test. He received a 90-day suspension for that violation and it took him out of a planned fight against former champion Anderson Silva.