UFC welterweight Bashir Hafez was suspended for one 12 months after testing optimistic for a banned substance in March.
On Wednesday, the Fight Sports activities Anti-Doping Company introduced that Hafez had accepted a 12-month sanction for violating the UFC’s anti-doping coverage.
“Hafez examined optimistic for Ipamorelin, a peptide hormone that’s prohibited beneath the Peptide Hormones, Progress Elements, Associated Substances, and Mimics class of the UFC Prohibited Listing,” CSAD officers mentioned in a press release. “The prohibited substance was detected in an out-of-competition pattern collected from Hafez on March 20, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“Throughout the CSAD investigation, Hafez is Offered full and full cooperation as outlined within the ADP. His cooperation included figuring out and referring the well being clinic he used to acquire substances he believed had been approved for damage restoration functions. Hafez had not performed in a recreation since November 2024 because of the damage and was not examined on the time the samples had been collected. Though Hafez claims he didn’t know {that a} sure product was offered to him, proof gathered in the course of the investigation signifies that though the Wellness Clinic contained Ipamorelin, he dedicated gross negligence in ingesting the product with out due diligence concerning its components and its prohibited standing. ”
Because of this, Hafez can be suspended and won’t be eligible to compete once more after March 20, 2027.
Earlier than CSAD introduced his suspension, Hafez defined his place by revealing on social media that he had examined optimistic for a banned substance.
“Throughout the therapeutic course of, I took dietary supplements, which ended up containing banned substances,” Hafez mentioned. “Though I had offered the clinic with an inventory of prohibited substances and made it clear that these components weren’t allowed, they nonetheless ended up within the combination.
“On the finish of the day, it is my fault for not double-checking earlier than taking it. Being injured, out of the game, and spending the final 16 years coaching has been extremely robust, each mentally and bodily. I might have accomplished it, I ought to have accomplished it, and nothing can be totally different now.”
Hafez is presently 1-2 within the UFC with a win over Mickey Gall and losses to Orban Elliott and former UFC welterweight champion Jacques de la Maddalena. It was the battle towards Della Maddalena that led Hafes to hitch the UFC, after Hafes took the battle on brief discover and introduced it to an in depth cut up determination in his debut.
Having final performed in 2024, Hafez should wait till 2027 to ebook his subsequent battle.
