Jim Wallhead will have to wait a few months before he can vie for his first UFC victory.
The British welterweight has accepted a nine-month suspension from the USADA after testing positive for anabolic agent ostarine and its metabolite in an out-of-competition sample collected Oct. 7, the UFC announced Tuesday.
Wallhead faced a ban of up to two years, but was handed a reduced sanction after providing the USADA with the dietary supplement to which he'd attributed the flagging. The banned substance was not listed on the product's label, but was detected in tests the anti-doping agency conducted on both Wallhead's and a previously unopened container.
While the 33-year-old Wallhead's suspicions proved correct, the USADA ultimately slapped him with the nine-month ban due to his failure to thoroughly research the supplement and assess the risk in procuring it, as the supplier has sold several products containing illicit substances. His penance is retroactive to the date his sample was collected, making him eligible to return July 7.
Wallhead - who'd pulled out of an October date with Warlley Alves days prior to his flagging due to injury - is winless in a pair of walks to the Octagon, dropping a split decision to Jessin Ayari in September 2016 before tapping to Luan Chagas at UFC 212 in June.
