What's the deal with Josh Barnett vs USADA?

What’s next for Josh Barnett?

On December 27th, he UFC announced Josh Barnett was notified of a potential anti-doping violation from an out of competition test conducted on December 9th.

Barnett spent some time last week on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast. He maintains his innocence and blames the positive drug test on a tainted supplement. Barnett provided the supplement he took to USADA and they found it to be tainted as well. USADA even went as far as buying a brand new unopened bottle which was also laced with the same substance.

The amount that was in Barnett’s system was such a small amount that there couldn’t have been a way for him to be on the substance and cycled off. It simply would not have benefited him in any way. Barnett stands behind his statements that he checks every single substance with the USADA banned substance list to ensure he is not taking anything prohibited.

He is currently suspended until the investigation is concluded. At this stage in his career, it doesn’t seem that he would take the risk of being suspended for a long period of time. He stands to lose too much. At 39 years old he may only have a few more years left of fighting, and a USADA ban could be the end of his career in the UFC. The money he would risk losing by not fighting does not seem to be worth the risk of taking a performance enhancing drug.

What do you think? Do you believe Josh Barnett is innocent?