Stephan Bonnar has been suspended for one year by the UFC after testing positive for steroids a second time.
According to Marc Ratner, the UFC’s VP of regulatory affairs, Bonnar will be suspended until Oct. 13, 2013, after he tested positive for the anabolic steroid Drostanolone following his UFC 153 loss to Anderson Silva last month.
Ratner added that he has yet to determine what kind of suspension Dave Herman, who also tested positive for marijuana metabolites at UFC 153, will receive, but he expects to make that decision later this week. He did say that even though this is Herman’s second time testing positive for marijuana, his suspension will not mirror the one Bonnar received.
“We feel very strongly that there’s a big difference between PED’s [performance-enhancing drugs] and marijuana,” Ratner said. “We think the commissions do a good job with PEDs, but we think with marijuana there should be some form of rehab involved, going through that kind of process and learning about it.
“Other sports have a difference between PEDs and recreational drugs.”
Ratner said he expects Herman to be suspended for “months,” while also having to go through some kind of rehab program.
Earlier this year, the Nevada State Athletic Commission suspended Nick Diaz for a year after he tested positive for marijuana metabolites a second time.
Since there isn’t an official Brazilian athletic commission, the UFC served as the governing body at UFC 153. Ratner is the former executive director of the NSAC.
Bonnar was suspended for nine months by the NSAC following his UFC 62 loss to Forrest Griffin in 2006 after metabolites of the anabolic steroid Boldenone were found in his system, while Herman was pulled from his UFC 136 fight against Mike Russow in 2011 after traces of marijuana came up in the pre-fight drug test administered by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
UFC 153, which was headlined by Bonnar vs. Silva, was held on Oct. 13 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro. Silva defeated Bonnar via first-round TKO. Last week, Bonnar announced that he retired from the sport after an 11-year run prior to the news of his positive drug test came out.
Both Bonnar and Herman have not publicly commented on their positive drug tests since the news was first reported last week.