UFC’s anti-doping program is flawed and needs to be changed

News came out yesterday that Carlos Diego Ferreira has accepted a 17-month suspension from USADA for disclosing his use of 7-keto-DHEA and testing positive for ostarine. Let me contextualize that suspension, and explain how it highlights some of the major issues with the UFC’s anti-doping program.

The most recent inconsistent decision

Ostarine is a selective androgen receptor modulator and the substance that Tim Means received a 6-month suspension for taking, after proving his ingestion was inadvertent. It’s also the substance Tom Lawlor is facing up to a two-year suspension over after he tested positive for the substance.

7-keto-DHEA is a mild fat-burning agent and DHEA metabolite which Lyoto…