UFC welterweight Tim Means has accepted a six-month doping suspension that stemmed from a tainted supplement, the United States Ant-Doping Agency announced on Friday.
Means, 32, tested positive for the banned substance Ostarine during an out-of-competition test earlier this year. The veteran mixed martial artist immediately denied he had knowingly ingested the substance. According to USADA, Means provided a sealed container of a legal dietary supplement he had been taking during that time. USADA independently confirmed the supplement was tainted with Ostarine.
The UFC was forced to pull Means (25-7-1) from a scheduled fight against Donald Cerrone on Feb. 21 due to the positive test. His six-month suspension is dated retroactively to Feb. 3, when he was first placed on provisional suspension by USADA.
It's the second time this year USADA has settled a doping violation with a UFC athlete due to a tainted supplement. In April, middleweight Yoel Romero also received a six-month suspension after USADA independently confirmed his positive test for Ibutamoren was caused by a tainted supplement. As first time offenders, both Romero and Means were facing standard two-year suspensions.
Means, who fights out of Edgewood, New Mexico, is 8-4 in the UFC.