Two UFC fighters receive two-year bans for separate USADA violations

The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has dropped the hammer on a couple of UFC fighters for their respective drug test failures.

First up on the list is Indian featherweight Bharat Vijay Kandare, who popped for the banned substances “exogenous boldenone” and “tamoxifen” in an out-of-competition drug test. He received a two year ban.

USADA announced today that Bharat Vijay Kandare, of Maharashtra, India, has accepted a two-year sanction for a violation of the UFC^® Anti-Doping Policy after testing positive for prohibited substances.

Kandare, 31, tested positive for exogenous boldenone and its metabolites, as well as a metabolite of tamoxifen, following an out-of-competition test conducted on July 23, 2018. Boldenone is a non-Specified Substance in the class of Anabolic Agents and tamoxifen is a Specified Substance in the class of Hormone and Metabolic Modulators. Both substances are prohibited at all times under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.

Kandare (5-3) was choked out by Song Yadong in his UFC debut back in November 2017 at UFC Shanghai. He was scheduled to take on Wuliji Buren at UFC 227 in August, but was removed from the bout even before the drug test failure.

Tamoxifen is the same substance that ended Adam Hunter’s UFC career before he could even make his Octagon debut. The likes of Dave Herman and Stephan Bonnar are among those who have failed UFC drug tests for boldenone.

Kandare is the first Indian fighter in UFC history, and he won’t be eligible to return to competition until November 2nd, 2020, two years from the date of his provisional suspension.

Also getting two years is welterweight Stefan Sekulic, who debuted earlier this year at UFC Moscow against Ramazan Emeev. Sekulic popped for good ol’ fashioned drostanolone, one of the more common steroids to fail for in MMA, as well as metandienone.

USADA announced today that Stefan Sekulic, of Novi Sad, Serbia, has accepted a two-year sanction for a violation of the UFC^® Anti-Doping Policy after testing positive for prohibited substances.

Sekulic, 26, tested positive for drostanolone and its metabolites, as well as a metabolite of metandienone, following an in-competition test conducted at UFC Fight Night in Moscow, Russia, on September 15, 2018. These are non-Specified Substances in the class of Anabolic Agents and prohibited at all times under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.

Drostanolone has notably been in the systems of Anderson Silva, Kevin Casey, Brian Ortega, Piotr Hallmann, and Stephan Bonnar.

Sekulic (12-3) lost a decision to Emeev in September, and he won’t be eligible to return to the UFC until October 31st, 2020.

The UFC recently updated its anti-doping policy so that “potential USADA violations” would no longer be publicly announced, in case you’re wondering why you hadn’t heard any news on these cases until they were resolved.