Yahoo Finance Tito Ortiz gets vacated victory back after doctor vouches for substance
Two days after news broke that officials stripped him of a victory over Alberto Rodriguez in a Combate Americas bout, Tito Ortiz is back in the win column.
The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation has reinstated the result from the December fight that had been converted to a no-contest following drug-testing controversy.
Doctor vouches for Ortiz
TDLR officials made the announcement on Friday that Ortiz had tested positive for “a potentially disqualifying substance” on the day of the fight. Ortiz argued that he took the substance legally via a doctor’s prescription, and the TDLR reinstated his victory after verifying his claim.
“A urine sample provided by Jacob ‘Tito’ Christopher Ortiz on Dec. 7, 2019, at the Combate Americas MMA event showed a potentially disqualifying substance that Ortiz claimed was prescribed by a physician,” a TDLR statement reads. “Pending the outcome of the TDLR inquiry into whether the substance was indeed prescribed by a physician, TDLR marked the fight results as ‘No Contest.’ TDLR confirmed with the physician that the item was prescribed to Ortiz. TDLR has reinstated Ortiz’s victory in the Dec. 7 bout.”
According to ESPN, Ortiz disclosed with officials prior to the fight that he was taking the substance which he said was not a performance enhancer. What the substance is remains unclear.
Ortiz defeated Rodriguez via a rear-naked choke submission in the first round of the event held in McAllen, Texas. The fight was part of Combate Americas’ first pay-per-view event.
More from Yahoo Sports:
