USADA Suspends UFC Heavyweight For Life

USADA has put the hammer down on a UFC heavyweight who ran afoul of their rules too many times.

The UFC’s anti-doping partner announced on their website today that heavyweight Ruslan Magomedov had been suspended for life following his third violation. The straw that broke the camel’s back was apparently his refusal to take a drug test on February 5.

Check out USADA’s statement here:

“USADA announced today that Ruslan Magomedov, of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, has received a lifetime sanction after his second and third violations of the UFC^® Anti-Doping Policy.

Magomedov, 32, received a second violation after he tested positive for methyltestosterone metabolite 17α-methyl-5β-androstan-3α, 17β-diol, as well as stanozolol metabolites 3’-hydroxystanozolol-O-glucuronide, 16β-hydroxystanozolol-O-glucuronide, and stanozolol-N-glucuronide, as the result of an out-of-competition urine sample he provided on October 10, 2018. Methyltestosterone and stanozolol are non-Specified Substances in the class of Anabolic Agents and prohibited at all times under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.

The athlete’s third violation resulted from his refusal to complete the sample collection process as requested by a doping control officer during an out-of-competition test on February 5, 2019. Refusing or failing to submit to sample collection, without compelling justification, is a doping violation under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy.

Magomedov’s lifetime period of ineligibility began on November 5, 2018, the date his provisional suspension was imposed.”

Three Violations

Magomedov had been out of action since he beat Shawn Jordan by decision at September 2015’s UFC 192. He was forced out of two bouts due to injury. He then tested positive in an out-of-competition USADA test and was suspended in September 2016. Magomedov also tested positive for ostarine in an October 2016 sample. For that violation he received a two-year ban. He was supposed to return in 2018 but visa issues prevented that from happening.

His third violation arose when he refused to complete a sample this February. He becomes the first fighter to receive a lifetime ban from USADA. They began regulating the UFC’s anti-doping program in July 2015.