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Raquel Pennington is one of the athletes in the UFC that has seen the negative sides of having an anti-doping agency like USADA in the promotion. While USADA's job is to help catch things like steroids, PED's, and banned substances, it can sometimes go too far.
In Raquel Pennington's case, USADA went too far. When it was announced that she was getting a six-month suspension from USADA, many assumed the UFC bantamweight had taken a tainted supplement or something of the sort. Six-month suspensions are usually for situations like that.
In this situation, the former UFC bantamweight title challenger was on medication for a thyroid issue. USADA's program forced her to take a step back and remove all of the medicine she was taking, even against the advice of her doctor.
“I went on the six-month suspension and it was just like, at this rate, it's super frustrating with USADA,” Pennington told ClutchPoints. “I understand the whole thing with clean sport and everything. This whole situation came about because you have those athletes who screwed things up for everybody. So it was kind of one of those things that I don't want any more reasons for stuff like this to happen. So I pretty much just took myself off of every medication, like I don't put anything in my system anymore. I started working with Lou Nutrition, and we just started figuring things out through diet got everything balanced. And my body is actually super balanced.
“Now my hormones are balanced like I actually feel really good,” the UFC bantamweight said. “My thyroid issue, I was like, balding and losing my hair, my hairline is actually starting to grow back in and like, just everything's managed. I just went all-natural. We figured out what foods flare things up and what foods to stay away from, what foods are actually working really well for me. I don't only just have a job and the gym like, I mean, I have to really focus on my job in the kitchen as well. And it's a lot of discipline is a lot of work. But I mean, at the end of the day, it's worth it.
USADA can give out TUE's, Therapeutic Use Exemptions, for certain UFC fighters with health problems. This wasn't the case for Raquel Pennington as she was denied.
She was suspended for six months and had to be clear with everyone that the suspension wasn't for steroids. UFC fighters are instantly accused of steroid use when they get suspended by USADA.
“It was super frustrating, just given the fact that I'm over here just trying to get healthy, that doctors have been following this. I mean, they talked to the doctors, they like seeing all my blood work, I redid tests, like everything, but it's just like, I personally don't understand USADA just on the fact that when it comes to like our TUE program, it's supposed to be an exemption. I feel like every athlete I've ever talked to including myself going through this, we call and we asked for a TUE for a medical reason. And it's like, ‘oh, no, you can't do that.' So it almost feels like if we want to be a professional athlete, we have to choose between being a professional athlete or being healthy.
“That's super frustrating. I mean, even if we get the common cold taking NyQuil, NyQuil has ingredients in it that can actually get us in trouble. So all of us just kind of, we just have to really watch what we're doing. At the end of the day, I mean, I respect the clean sport and stuff. It should always be that way. But we're still human beings, we have issues and whatnot, and especially with weight cuts, like weight cuts take a massive toll on our bodies. And so, overall, it's just a frustrating experience overall.”
Raquel Pennington recently competed against Macy Chiasson at UFC Vegas 45. She earned the finish via guillotine choke in the second round.
