Barnett sues supplement company allegedly responsible for failed drug test
Josh Barnett is suing the company he deems responsible for a 15-month ordeal.
After avoiding a lengthy suspension from the USADA over a flagged out-of-competition sample collected back in December 2016, the UFC heavyweight has filed a lawsuit against supplement maker Genkor, citing negligence, breach of implied and express warranty, and strict product liability in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Genkor, a Los Angeles-based company, manufactures the Tributestin supplement believed to have been tainted with the Ostarine - a banned anabolic agent - found in Barnett's flagged sample. The lawsuit alleges the tainted supplement cost him fight purses and legal fees related to a lengthy case with the USADA - which wasn't resolved until recently - tarnished his reputation, and caused him physical and emotional distress.
Barnett is seeking unspecified general and compensatory damages, as well as related legal fees.
The suit claims Barnett began taking the supplement in the fall of 2016, believing it contained a legal herb meant to raise testosterone levels. He was then flagged in relation to a sample collected on Dec. 9 of that year, but was later exonerated with a public reprimand by an independent arbitrator, who ultimately attributed the violation to a supplement Barnett didn't know was tainted.
The former champion, who kept records of his intake and was provisionally suspended during the 15-month battle, previously said the anti-doping agency had attempted to factor a pre-USADA failed test into an 18-month ban (a motion the arbitrator ultimately dismissed), with the suit alleging the months-long ordeal cost Barnett a fight in September 2017 that would have paid him $275,000.
Barnett was assumed to be free to get back in the saddle upon exoneration, but he reportedly removed himself from the USADA's testing pool in late 2016 and will have to re-enter it for six months if he aims to take the Octagon again. He last fought in September 2016 when he submitted Andrei Arlovski in the third round of UFC Fight Night 93's main event.
- With h/t to MMAjunkie