Quebec MMA fighter Marc-Andre Barriault revealed that he failed a doping test on June 20, the night he scored his first UFC victory in Las Vegas.
The athlete announced the news in a statement on Thursday. He explained that a positive test had revealed the presence of Ostarine, a prohibited substance.
Barriault swears to have been tested ten times since the beginning of his career, three times in Quebec and seven times with the UFC and the USA Anti-Doping Agency USADA. Each time, the tests were negative according to him.
The 30-year-old fighter believes that one of his supplements could be at the origin of this situation and that he intends to shed light on the matter.
“I’m obviously disappointed with this turn of events, but I’m confident that I will be able to identify the offending product and offer an exact explanation for this positive result,” Barriault said.
“I am actually working actively with my team as well as the UFC to review and test some of the supplements I used before my fight on June 20 in the hope of quickly finding the culprit.
“I will continue to cooperate fully with the Nevada Athletic Commission to get back to the Octagon as quickly as possible.” Barriault added.
Barriault is currently under temporary suspension from the Nevada Athletic Commission and according to USADA, the samples of supplements will be known soon.
“The challenge is to find which supplement is contaminated. We are confident we can find it. If we are able to prove that it is contamination, his name will not be tainted. There have been other cases of contamination of supplements and athletes have not been singled out for it.” USADA spokesman said.
Barriault lost his first three outings in the UFC Octagon before winning by technical knockout against Poland’s Oskar Piechota in the gaming capital.
