Not for the first time, Holly Holm’s name is attached to a company that makes banned supplements.
The UFC women’s bantamweight champion has signed an endorsement deal with Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, a company that sells products banned from UFC, as USA Today reports.
The Preacher’s Daughter recently agreed to a two-year deal with the company and features in a new ad where she pictured beside five bottled Hi-Tech products, three of which are advertised as containing DMAA, a stimulant the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) claimed in 2013 had been linked to adverse health events.
DMAA is most commonly used in supplements for weight loss, muscle building and performance enhancement, according to the FDA, but it can also lead to cardiovascular problems, including heart attacks.
It is on the list of substances banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) whose rules and regulations are adhered to by USADA, the UFC’s independent anti-doping programme.
UFC released a statement explaining that Holm is free to accept endorsements and sponsorships that don’t conflict with their contractual obligations at UFC events.
“Holly Holm is a great UFC champion and a role model for the sport of mixed martial arts. The UFC organization has not researched the company that is sponsoring Holm, and UFC does not condone any athlete that uses a substance on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Prohibited List.”
This isn’t the first time Holm has been sponsored by a company who makes banned supplements. For her title-winning fight against Ronda Rousey she was sponsored by Intel Pharma, a company that has sold products that are considered steroid alternatives and on WADA’s banned substance list.
Holm is no longer affiliated with the company and Intel Pharma no longer sells products containing substances on WADA’s banned list, according to the company’s owner Langdon Suggs.
