Tag: UFC on Fuel 9

The drug test results have been returned for UFC on Fuel 9 in Sweden and another fighter has tested positive for use of marijuana resulting in a suspension handed down from the promotion.

UFC featherweight Robbie Peralta tested positive for marijuana metabolites following his unanimous decision loss to Akira Corassani at the event held in Sweden last month.

According to a release by the UFC, Peralta was the only fighter who tested positive out of the 26 fighters tested on the card.

“Peralta tested positive for marijuana metabolites following his bout. He has agreed to attend drug rehabilitation classes and will receive a 6-month suspension retroactive to the date of the event and must pass a drug test upon completion of the suspension before receiving clearance to compete again,” said UFC officials after suspending the featherweight fighter.  “The results of his positive test will be reported to the official Association of Boxing Commissions record-keeper.”

Peralta joins UFC fighters such as Alex Caceres and Matt Riddle, who have also tested positive for using marijuana in 2013. Both fighters were suspended six months from the organization as well, although Riddle was released from the UFC following repeated offenses for using marijuana resulting in positive drug tests.

UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner spoke out recently during a meeting with the Nevada State Athletic Commission about marijuana’s inclusion on the banned substances list.

“Society is changing, it’s a different world now than when I was on the commission. States are legalizing marijuana and it’s becoming more and more of a problem with fighters testing positive and the metabolites,” Ratner stated during the meeting in late March. “I think it’s something that has to be discussed on a commission level now. Right now I just cannot believe that a performance enhancing drug and marijuana can be treated the same. It just doesn’t make sense to the world anymore and it’s something that has to be brought up.”

For now, marijuana does remain on the banned substances list, so any fighter who tests positive for the drug will be subject to at least a suspension handed down by state athletic commissions.

Peralta will be eligible to return to action after October 6, 2013, which is six months after the date of his fight in Sweden at UFC on Fuel 9. 

 

Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained first hand unless otherwise noted.

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The decision to yank Alexander Gustafsson from the main event at UFC on Fuel 9 last weekend in Sweden has caused quite a headache for the Swedish Mixed Martial Arts Federation (SMMAF).

Gustafsson suffered a cut in training the week prior to his scheduled main event against Gegard Mousasi.  The fighter had doctors in Sweden check the cut once he arrived back in his home country, and due to the nature of the cut they opted to pull him from the card all together.

Just hours before the event began however, a photo of Gustafsson was taken while being interviewed and the cut seemed to almost disappear by that point. The invisible nature of the cut led UFC president Dana White to lash out at the commission calling it the “worst decision I have ever seen to pull (a) fight.”

Gustafsson‘s friend and former teammate Ilir Latifi ended up in the main event, which he lost by unanimous decision.

Now just under a week after the event, the SMMAF has released a statement via email to Bleacher Report where they stand by their initial decision to pull Gustafsson from the card after doctors examined the cut.

On Saturday the 30^th of March a SMMAF doctor examined Mr. Alexander Gustafsson and forwarded images of the injury, pre and post sutures, to two other SMMAF doctors. Together they made the assessment that Gustafsson’s injury was of such a nature that he would not be able to compete nor partake in full–contact sparring for another 6 weeks or more without risking further injury and that it was highly unlikely that he would be cleared at the medical check the day before the match. The cut was both wide and deep and in a sensitive area. Consequently, he could not at that time be deemed fit to safely compete in the match. It was formally decided on the 2^nd of April that Gustafsson´s match was stopped through the ruling of the Medical Committee. Questions have been raised regarding the assessment of the Medical Committee and the SMMAF board has requested we supply the Federation with a formal clarification on the details of the decision.

Going into further detail, the commission explains that while the superficial nature of the wound appears healed to the naked eye, the damage is still there and could open back up with minimal contact. 

In the event of a wound of this nature, it will be enough with only a moderate impact in the eye area for the wound to open up again. In elite level contact sports it is highly probable for that to occur and thus causing the wound to bleed profusely, escalated by the fact that in this stage of the healing process there is an increase of vascular density in the surrounding tissue. The bleeding would be of such intensity that a stoppage of the match is highly likely, since the vision would be occluded.

The caveat to this entire situation was the fact that Gustafsson‘s cut was reviewed five days before the fight took place while the cut was still fresh.  In the statement, the SMMAF admits that if they had only seen Gustafsson on the day before the fights at the weigh-ins they may have ruled in his favor to compete.

Once they saw the cut that Monday before the fights, however, there was no way they could clear him, given the nature of the gash that was opened below his eyebrow.

Had the Medical Committee not been asked to examine the wound at this early stage nor been privy to information regarding the injury, there is a possibility that Gustafsson might have been cleared at an inspection on April 5^th. The extent to which a wound of this type appears healed after a week will vary. However, such speculation is not relevant in this case since the Medical Committee had in fact already performed an examination. Consequently; letting an athlete compete in an elite level full contact sport based on what appears to be a healed scar, but fully informed of the fact that the injury is far from healed and the obvious risks that come with it, would be a severe breach of medical ethics as well as in this respect also against the law.

Since the event ended, Gustafsson has stated he hopes to return to action as soon as the UFC can book him in a fight, and will be on potential stand-by to step into a big fight if the promotion needs him. 

Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com