UFC on FOX 19 Loses Another Fight Due To Failed Drug Test

This is just getting silly…

UFC on FOX 19 is taking an absolute beating at the moment, and it’s going right to the wire. First off it was the injury bug that saw Tony Ferguson removed from his bout with Khabib Nurmagomev, although ‘The Eagle’ remained on the card with new player Darrell Horcher stepping in. Then Lyoto Machida popped under the new USADA (United States Anti Doping Agency) testing for a masking agent, although he had admitted to taking the substance and not knowing it was on the banned list before failing the test.

So that meant Machida’s rematch with Dan Henderson was cancelled, and ‘Hendo’ removed from the card all together, with the card heavily rearranged. Glover Teixeira and Rashad Evans were promoted to the main event, Rose Namajunas and Tecia Torres were bumped up to co-main, but the UFC on FOX 19 card is not in the clear just yet

Training partner of Khabib Nurmagomedov at the American Kickboxing Academy, Islam Makhachev has failed a drug test and been forced off the UFC on FOX 19 card in Tamp, Florida. He was set to face Drew Dober in a lightweight contest, but the circumstances behind his failed drug test are not black and white. Check out the initial report details by BloodyElbow.com:

Meldonium is a heart medication developed in Latvia primarily used for improving bloodflow in patients with ischemia or heart issues like angina and similar issues. It is not currently scheduled or available in the USA. It has been commonly used by athletes as a supplement in eastern Europe and Russia for several years. It was placed on the in and out of competition prohibited list by WADA on Jan 1st 2016 after previously being on the WADA watchlist in 2015. It was still legal under WADA/USADA guidelines as recently as December 31st 2015.

WADA released a statement this week addressing the issue of excretion times:

“In the case of meldonium, there is currently a lack of clear scientific information on excretion times. For this reason, a hearing panel might justifiable find (unless there is specific evidence to the contrary) that an athlete who has established on the balance of probabilities that he or she ingested meldonium before 1 January 2016 could not reasonably have known or suspected that meldonium would still be present in his or her body on or after 1 January 2016. In these circumstances, WADA considers that there may be grounds for no fault or negligence on the part of the athlete.”

Where stricter drug testing has improved the overall image of the sport and helped make it more of a level playing field, it seems there are still a few peculiar circumstances that need addressing.

Here’s the UFC on FOX 19’s woefully injured card as of now:

Event: UFC on FOX 19: “Teixeira vs. Evans”
Date: Sat., April 16, 2016, on FOX
Location: Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay, Florida

UFC on FOX 19 Main Event:

205 lbs.: Glover Teixeira vs. Rashad Evans

UFC on FOX 19 Main Card (8 p.m. ET):

115 lbs.: Rose Namajunas vs. Tecia Torres
160 lbs.: Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Darrell Horcher
145 lbs.: Cub Swanson vs. Hacran Dias

UFC on FOX 19 “Prelims” (6 p.m. ET):

155 lbs.: Michael Chiesa vs. Beneil Dariush
135 lbs.: Bethe Correia vs. Raquel Pennington
170 lbs.: Court McGee vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
155 lbs.: Drew Dober vs. Islam Makhachev

UFC on FOX 19 “Prelims” on UFC Fight Pass (4 p.m. ET):

135 lbs.: John Dodson vs. Manny Gamburyan
170 lbs.: Randy Brown vs. Michael Graves
185 lbs.: Cezar Ferreira vs. Oluwale Bamgbose
170 lbs.: Omari Akhmedov vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos