Another day, another USADA suspension. This time, it's middleweight David Branch who's found himself on the anti-doping agency's radar. Branch has been handed a two-year suspension after testing positive for a banned substance linked to increased HGH production, ESPN's Brett Okamoto is reporting.
Branch is currently on a two-fight losing skid, most recently tapping out to Jack Hermansson at UFC on ESPN 2 in March. Prior to his back-to-back losses, Branch picked up a big win in a Performance of the Night knockout win of Thiago Silva in April 2018. The former two-division WSOF champ has gone 2-3 since returning to UFC in 2017 for a second tour of the Octagon.
The announcement comes a day after UFC women's flyweight Sarah Frota was issued her own two-year suspension after testing positive for steroid metabolites, and just over a week after former UFC heavyweight Dmitrii Smoliakov earned his own two-year vacation on the sidelines for a violation.
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USADA has handed down 26 suspensions in MMA in 2019, the same number handed down in the sport in then entirety of 2018.
More UFC news, rumors
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