Sarah Frota was hit with a two-year suspension from the United States Anti-Doping Agency after testing positive for steroids. But she won’t sit out during that suspension.

Frota was released by the UFC after losing two octagon bouts and failing a drug test for stanozolol metabolites – 16α-hydroxystanozolol, 3’,16-dihydroxystanozolol and 4β,16-dihydroxystanozolol – on July 27, the day she lost to Gillian Robertson at UFC 240.

Frota told MMA Fighting she can’t afford to be sidelined for 24 months without making money through fighting.

“I have to work and pay my bills,” she said. “I’m staying away from the spotlight now because the public pressure is huge, and I’m training to come back to fighting for other promotions as quick as possible. The UFC has a big media appeal, but this is how I make money.”

The Brazilian flyweight, who’s 9-2 as a pro, guarantees she never intentionally used any banned substance. She has a theory as to how the stanozolol metabolites got in her body.

“I’ve always used the same supplements, always working with a pharmacy that sponsors me and makes sure not to work with any banned substance,” Frota said. “I had many visa issues to get to Canada and was one of the last fighters to get there (at UFC 240), and I didn’t have my supplements when I arrived. I have problems with insomnia, so after the weigh-ins a friend of mine gave me melatonin he got from a different pharmacy he said he trusted, and I took it. I was tested on the 27th and came back positive for that metabolite. I honestly have no idea how that happened outside of that situation.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough money to pay for the costs of the process with USADA; it’s an expensive process, but I still have some of the pills. So I’m gonna ask a lab in my hometown to get them tested to at least know how that happened. I was always very cautious with that. I never used anything other than melatonin for my bad insomnia.”

Frota, who joined the UFC after knocking out Maiara Amanajas in less than four minutes at the Brazilian version of Dana White’s Contender Series in August 2018, hopes to sign with a promotion where her two-year USADA suspension will not stop her from moving on with her career.