Ashlee Evans-Smith suspended 14 months after testing positive for steroid

Ashlee Evans-Smith has tested positive for a steroid and will be out of action until next year.

The USADA announced Monday that Evans-Smith has accepted a sanction for violating the UFC Anti-Doping Policy after she tested positive for “an anabolic androgenic steroid of exogenous origin” tied to a pair of out-of-competition drug tests taken this past January. The results came from urine samples collected on Jan. 3 and Jan. 27.

Evans-Smith will serve a 14-month suspension, which is retroactive to Jan. 3, which means that she will be eligible to compete again on March 3, 2023. The 34-year-old has not fought since losing a unanimous decision to Norma Dumont in a 139.5-pound catchweight bout (Dumont missed weight by 3.5 pounds) at UFC Vegas 15 in November 2020.

According to the USADA’s statement, Evans-Smith had declared dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) on her doping control forms and later provided evidence that the substance had been incorrectly prescribed to her. Due to Evans-Smith’s cooperation with the investigation, it was determined that the fighter’s “degree of fault was diminished and that she should receive a reduced period of ineligibility.”

This is the second time in Evans-Smith’s UFC career that she has been suspended for a failed drug test. In February 2015, she was issued a nine-month suspension by the Nevada Athletic Commission after testing positive for a diuretic, hydrochlorizide, in relation to a bout at UFC 181. Evans-Smith was also fined 30 percent of her show money for that bout, which came out to $2,400.

Evans-Smith (6-5) has lost four of her past five fights and her UFC record sits at 3-5.