Tag: USADA

UFC Suspends Fighter Dubbed ‘Russian Ronda’ For Drug Failure, USADA Accused Of Not Disclosing Result Until After She Fought Again

In what will have to go down as one of the most confusing suspensions given out in the history of the UFC, Irina Alekseeva, known as “Russian Ronda,” has been suspended for a failed drug test stemming from just over one year ago. The promotion outlined in a statemen this week that the positive drug […]

Continue Reading UFC Suspends Fighter Dubbed ‘Russian Ronda’ For Drug Failure, USADA Accused Of Not Disclosing Result Until After She Fought Again at MMA News.

In what will have to go down as one of the most confusing suspensions given out in the history of the UFC, Irina Alekseeva, known as “Russian Ronda,” has been suspended for a failed drug test stemming from just over one year ago.

The promotion outlined in a statemen this week that the positive drug test sample for testosterone was originally collected on June 21, 2023, when the UFC’s anti-drug program was still being overseen by USADA.

According to the UFC, Alekseeva was not notified of the failure until Oct. 31 — four months after the sample was collected. By that time, Alekseeva had already competed in another fight, losing to Melissa Mullins at the Apex-held UFC Fight Night on Oct. 14.

The UFC has since switched partners of the anti-drug program to Combat Sports Anti Doping (CSAD), who branded USADA’s handling of the failed 2023 test “unacceptable.”

“While CSAD was not the independent administrator of the UFC ADP during the above-described time period, CSAD recognizes the importance of promptly reporting results on samples collected in the months and weeks leading up to a UFC event BEFORE the event takes place. CSAD also recognizes that positive results reported out more than 4-months after a sample is collected, and where the athlete is allowed to compete in a UFC bout in the interim, is unacceptable.”

Irina Alekseeva Retroactively Suspended One Year After “Unacceptable” Handling By USADA, According To UFC

Alekseeva passed three drug tests prior to the failure and passed three drug test in the time between the failure and when she was notified. As a result of this unique situation, CSAD lowered the fighter’s perceived fault level.

Alekseeva’s suspension is retroactive to Oct. 15, 2023, as that marks the first day following her most recent fight. She will be eligible to return to competition on Oct. 15, 2024.

CSAD released a statement that reads: “Under the UFC Anti-Doping Program, CSAD, in its sole discretion may suspend all or any part of ineligibility and other consequences imposed in an individual case in which it has results management authority where the athlete has provided full and complete cooperation, where the athlete did not intend to enhance their performance and has provided full, prompt and truthful responses and information.

“CSAD has determined that Alekseeva’s efforts and the evidence of this case, fits these criteria, and thus CSAD is reducing the sanction against her to 12-months.”

Continue Reading UFC Suspends Fighter Dubbed ‘Russian Ronda’ For Drug Failure, USADA Accused Of Not Disclosing Result Until After She Fought Again at MMA News.

Naked, Hungover Cody Stamann Pulled A gun on USADA drug tester: ‘I Shook this guy to his core’

Cody Stamann and USADAWith the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) no longer working alongside the UFC, fighters are sharing their horror stories…

Cody Stamann and USADA

With the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) no longer working alongside the UFC, fighters are sharing their horror stories of dealing with the organization.

Everyone from Paulo Costa, Nate Diaz, and Paige VanZant have spoken at length about USADA reps showing up at their door in the middle of the night and stalking them in the bathroom for hours at a time while attempting to collect a sample.

Speaking with The Score, UFC bantamweight standout Cody Stamann shared his own awkward incident with a new USADA employee who came knocking on his door at the wrong time.

“So I grabbed my gun — a 1911 .45 handgun — off my nightstand, I ran to the front door, and just absolutely ripped the door open, just standing there completely balls-out naked. I didn’t actually point the gun at him but I had two hands on the gun, standing there in a fighting stance.

“This guy turned around and he looked at me and he was like, ‘Uh, I’m USADA, I’m here to do a drug test for you.’ I saw immediately that he was a testing officer. I recognized the USADA T-shirt. I said, ‘Will you give me just one second, please,’ and he went, ‘Take all the time you need.’

“I went to shut the door and he was like, ‘No, no, no, I gotta go with you.’ I was like, ‘Are you serious? OK.’ So I went to the laundry room and threw some shorts on. Instinctively, I still had the gun in my hand. He asked, ‘Will you please put that down?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, dude, my bad.’

“This guy was shook. He said to me, ‘I just started working here this week.’ I was like, ‘Am I your first person?’ And he said, ‘No, you’re my second.’

“I never saw the guy again. That had to have been a terrifying thing for him: a naked man pulling a gun on you. He was trying to sign his name – they have a tablet where they have to sign their name – and I could physically see his hand was shaking. I shook this guy to his core” (h/t MMA Mania).

After parting ways with USADA due to an “untenable” relationship, the UFC announced its partnership with Drug Free Sport International, a move that came with a fair amount of skepticism among fighters and fans.

As for Stamann, the 28-fight veteran holds a 7-5-1 record under the UFC banner. After earning back-to-back wins against Eddie Wineland and Luan Lacerda, ‘The Spartan’ came up short in his last outing against Douglas Silva de Andrade in May 2023.

Paige VanZant reveals 2-Hour bathroom horror story stay with USADA tester after brutal UFC weight-Cut

Paige VanZant revelas 2-hour horror story with USADA tester in bathroom after UFC weight cutPaige VanZant is the latest fighter to come forward with their horror USADA story.  The break-up between the UFC…

Paige VanZant revelas 2-hour horror story with USADA tester in bathroom after UFC weight cut

Paige VanZant is the latest fighter to come forward with their horror USADA story. 

The break-up between the UFC and drug testing agency, USADA, was one of the biggest stories of the year. The news was met with mixed reviews, some fairly pointed out that it could open the door for more fighters using performance enhancing drugs, but several fighters have and continue to reveal their poor run-ins with USADA. 

The deal will officially end come January 1st 2024 so the 6 am wakeups that fighters have complained about should cease, for now. 

Paige VanZant reveals frustrating USADA incident 

Talking on her podcast alongside partner Austin Vanderford, VanZant counted a run-in with USADA during a difficult weight cut. The former UFC fighter claimed that whenever she would cut weight, she would become very ill.

“I was about to fight Alex Chambers in Las Vegas, Nevada,” Paige VanZant began. “And this was right when USADA got implemented in the UFC. So my drug testers show up right after weigh-ins. So I’m in my hotel room re-hydrating. Every single time I would weigh in, I would try to rehydrate, instantly sick.”

VanZant would continue, saying that while dealing with the weight-cutting-induced illness, the USADA drug tester stood by her side for two hours.

“So, part of USADA is once they see you, you cannot leave their sight, because, you know, it’s the whole anti-doping,” she continued. “Maybe you’re gonna go do something to mask the drugs or take something. I don’t even know. So, I had my drug tester in the bathroom with me for two hours, while I s— my brains out.”

VanZant last fought in the UFC since July 2020 and has not competed since her 2021 bareknuckle boxing match against Rachael Ostovich.

What do you think of Paige VanZant’s situation with USADA?

Joe Rogan and Derek, MPMD discuss the UFC’s Split with USADA and Conor McGregor’s Alleged Steroid Use

Joe RoganSitting down with Joe Rogan on the longtime UFC commentator’s popular podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, Derek of More…

Joe Rogan

Sitting down with Joe Rogan on the longtime UFC commentator’s popular podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, Derek of More Plates, More Dates discussed his take on the promotion’s split with USADA and the new regime that will be taking over testing duties in 2024.

In October, the United States Anti-Doping Agency announced that they would be parting ways with the UFC after eight years and more than 27,000 administered tests to its athletes. The news came as quite the shock to fight fans but was largely celebrated by fighters who often slammed USADA for their frequently inconvenient testing practices.

Beginning on January 1, the UFC will begin an in-house testing program with Kansas City-based organization Drug Free Sport International taking over duties for USADA.

One of Derek’s biggest questions regarding the new switch will be the transparency between the UFC and the public when a positive test is detected.

“I guess it depends on how they document the positive test results because back in the day, depending on the organization, sometimes they’ll publish exactly what the person popped for, what happened,” Derek said. “Scrutiny is happening to them in the moment. How it’s being further reviewed. It was very negative press even before they actually confirmed and proved that this guy cheated. And then USADA took this different angle where they would be a little bit more vague about it and then they would get some scrutiny about whether or not they were covering up for certain people.

“But at the same time, they were getting scrutiny for being hyper-stringent, where they would show up to guys places in the middle of the f*cking night when they’re trying to sleep.”

Shortly after news broke that the UFC would end its relationship with USADA, the promotion announced that it had hired George Piro, a former special agent in charge at the FBI’s Miami Field Office, who was the Team Leader of the Saddam Hussein Interrogation Team in 2004.

Jeff Novitzky, the Senior Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance for the UFC has said that Piro will make every decision in the new testing program and that the authority will be his and his alone.

“As far as the new organization, their level of scrutiny and how it’s going to play out and how private they’re going to keep the results, it’s to be determined,” Derek added. “But if they’re following the same WADA banned substance list and the same protocols, I imagine it’s going to be similar, but from what I understand, more scrutinous testing on some of the endogenous bioidenticals like EPO.

“Novitzky said they’re going to up their testing, but at the end of this day, there’s only so much budget to allocate to where it’s a viable economic thing. It’s like, are you going to EPO test every f*cking sample of every single athlete however many times per year?”

Joe Rogan Advocates for Conor McGregor’s alleged Banned Substance Use during recovery

At the center of USADA’s public break-up with the UFC is Irish megastar Conor McGregor. Travis Tygart, the CEO of USADA suggested in a statement that the pair’s relationship had become “untenable” due to the constant back-and-forth on McGregor’s long-awaited return to the Octagon.

McGregor just recently re-ented the USADA testing pool after suffering a broken leg during his trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier in July 2021. During that time, the former two-division champ had allegedly taken banned substances to help him through the healing process.

Rogan fully supports fighters taking certain substances to help them recover from a particularly devastating injury, like the ones that McGregor, Chris Weidman, and Anderson Silva have all suffered inside the Octagon.

“I imagine it’s going to be a little more lax and I certainly support that and I support guys taking things to recover from injuries like Conor did with his leg injury, 100 percent,” Rogan said. “No question about it, I’m 100 percent all in on that. That’s the only way. No one comes back from that. No one has ever come back from that catastrophic leg break. The shin break, not a single athlete has come back from it and performed at the same level.

“Anderson Silva is the only guy who came back and fought multiple times, and he was not the same guy.

As for whether or not McGregor will reap any real long-term benefits from banned substance abuse, it’s hard to say, even for an expert like Derek.

“As far as the studies go for retention of what’s called myonuclei, like how much you can actually bank up from steroid use, it doesn’t seem”to be something that’s going to sustain for… I don’t know. In perpetuity, like we once thought, it’s kind of finicky if that’s actually something that happens or not,” Derek said.

“A lot of people will shrink back down when they come off, but he’s competing pretty soon after what appeared to be a pretty f*cking full board. The guy was practically unrecognizable compared to the traditional Conor. To me, his face looked like the first time a guy takes gear. Like, ‘Oh, wow. You’ve gained like 15 pounds of water.’ It didn’t even look like it was an attempt to do it in a, ‘I’m trying to micro-dose’ way. It’s like a real cycle, seemingly. And why not, if you’re not being tested?

Famed MMA coach Firas Zahabi Shocked by UFC’s Split with USADA: ‘One guy is going to ruin it for everybody’

Firas ZahabiFamed MMA coach Firas Zahabi was shocked to learn of the UFC’s imminent split with the United States Anti-Doping…

Firas Zahabi

Famed MMA coach Firas Zahabi was shocked to learn of the UFC’s imminent split with the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

Last month, USADA CEO Travis Tygart revealed that the two organizations would no longer work together come January 1, 2024, ending an eight-year partnership. At the center of the bitter split was Irish megastar Conor McGregor, whose long-awaited return to the Octagon put a strain on the relationship between the UFC and USADA, making it “untenable” according to Tygart.

The news came completely out of left field and caused quite a stir in the MMA community with coaches, fighters, and fans concerned that without a third party to handle testing duties, the UFC could essentially make up their own rules and find ways around them at will.

GSP Coach Firas Zahabi Shocked that ‘One Guy is going to ruin it for everybody’

Firas Zahabi, head of Tristar Gym in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, offered his take on the situation via a video on the gym’s YouTube channel.

“I just saw a headline and I don’t even remember the headline but there could be a lot more to it, obviously. If that’s the case, man, what can I say? I’m speechless, man,” Zahabi said. “I’m speechless. That’s ridiculous. One guy is going to ruin it for everybody? We need drug testing guys, it’s out of control. The drugs are out of control, am I the last natural guy left?” (h/t BJPenn.com).

Conor McGregor re-entered the USADA testing pool last month, just in time for a return at the promotion’s next milestone event, UFC 300, in April.

With the UFC opting for an in-house testing system headed up by ex-FBI special agent George Piro, the Irishman could theoretically return anytime after December 31, 2023, but with Dana White announcing three blockbuster title fights to headline the first three pay-per-view events of the new year, McGregor’s rumored return at UFC 300 appears to be all but confirmed.

Jiri Prochazka Details Panic Attacks over never-Ending USADA Visits Ahead of UFC Return: ‘It was not good sleep’

Jiri ProchazkaAdd Jiri Prochazka to the list of fighters who were elated to hear that the UFC’s eight-year-long relationship with…

Jiri Prochazka

Add Jiri Prochazka to the list of fighters who were elated to hear that the UFC’s eight-year-long relationship with the United States Anti-Doping Agency would be coming to an end in 2024.

On Saturday night, ‘Denisa’ returns to the Octagon for the first time in more than a year when he looks to reclaim the light heavyweight title he never lost. Standing in his way will be former middleweight champion Alex Pereira who hopes to add a second UFC strap to his resume when the two men clash for the vacant 205-pound crown at UFC 295.

If Prochazka wins, he will become just the third man the claim the light heavyweight title twice in his career, joining a very exclusive list that includes Randy Couture, and Jon ‘Bones Jones.

However, ‘Denisa’ already holds one record that he’s not particularly thrilled with; he is the most drug tested fighter in UFC history.

The USADA database shows that Prochazka was drug tested an incredible 64 times in 2022, more than double the numbers of every other athlete in the testing pool. Fortunately, things have settled a bit for Prochazka as he has only been tested nine times in 2023 thus far. Speaking with Ariel Helwani during Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, ‘Denisa’ admitted that the thought of USADA knocking his door still fills him with anxiety.

“In the Czech Republic, yes [almost always the same USADA people],” he said of the situation. “Yeah, I know them. One guy and one woman. Yeah [they’re nice].

“Sometimes it was like I woke up and [gasps] ‘Oh f*ck, today they will come, today they will come!” he added. “I need to be prepared for that. Because it was not good sleeping. It was not good sleeping, many times per week [makes blood drawing motion on arm] from injections, taking blood. Here in U.S. they just do, like, thumb, take the little blood, like a drop of it. But [in Czech] they took a lot of blood. Like one bottle of blood” (h/t MMA Mania).

Jiri Prochazka happy to be freed from the shackles of USADA

Earlier this year, USADA CEO Travis Tygart revealed that the anti-doping agency would no longer partner with the UFC come January 1. Instead, the promotion will opt for an in-house testing system run by George Piro, the ex-FBI special agent known for leading the Saddam Hussein interrogation in December 2003.

“Now, I am free,” Prochazka said with a smile. “Two more months and then another [drug testing agency].”