USADA gave a six-month suspension to UFC women's bantamweight contender Raquel Pennington on Thursday for the use of two banned substances, the agency announced.
According to a USADA release, Pennington informed UFC's anti-doping partner on Nov. 17 that she had used two prohibited drugs: 7-keto-DHEA and AOD-9064. USADA tested Pennington and the results were "consistent with her declared use of 7-keto-DHEA," the release said.
Pennington's suspension is retroactive to that date, and she will be eligible to return May 17.
During her self-report, Pennington provided information to USADA that she was prescribed the drugs by a doctor to treat a medical condition. After having taken them for a short amount of time, she realized both substances were prohibited and informed USADA immediately, according to the release.
"This was simply me realizing a potential mistake and wanting to do the right thing," Pennington said as part of a statement posted to Twitter. "... I fully cooperated with [USADA] and provided them with 100% honesty. I was not trying to cheat, skirt the rules or trying to gain a performance advantage. I was simply trying to treat a medical condition and made the mistake of not timely checking the status of these medications."
Because of her declaration and cooperation, Pennington was granted a reduction in her suspension to six months. Testing positive for 7-keto-DHEA could net a fighter a two-year suspension in some cases.
The drug 7-keto-DHEA quickens metabolism and falls under USADA's "anabolic agents" category, while AOD-9064 is a fat burner that falls under USADA's class of "peptide hormones, growth factors, related substances, and mimetics."
Pennington (11-8) is a former UFC women's bantamweight title challenger and perennial contender in the weight class. The 32-year-old Colorado native is coming off a win over Marion Reneau in June and also has wins over the likes of Miesha Tate, Jessica Andrade and Irene Aldana.
She said she would be "more careful" in the future.
"I hope that I can serve as a role model in showing that we all make mistakes, but it is what you do after realizing those mistakes that define your true character," Pennington said in her statement.