Islam Makhachev Drug Test Failure Revealed On Eve Of UFC On FOX 19

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UFC fighter Islam Makhachev was last night removed from the UFC On FOX 19 fight card after it emerged that he had failed an out-of-competition drug test.

Makhachev, who’s 1-1 in the UFC to date, had been set to fight Drew Dober on the undercard of tonight’s show in Florida, but that will no longer happen after he tested positive for Meldonium, the same banned substance that female tennis superstar Maria Sharapova was caught using recently.

Earlier in the day, Mackhachev had also failed to make weight at the first attempt for the event, but had come in under the 156lb limit at the second attempt.

“The UFC organization was notified today that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) informed Islam Makhachev of a potential Anti-Doping Policy Violation involving Meldonium, a prohibited substance, stemming from a recent out-of-competition sample collection,” A UFC statement reads. “In accordance with the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, Makhachev has received a provisional suspension, and has been removed from his scheduled bout against Drew Dober from Saturday’s card in Tampa, Florida.

“The UFC Anti-Doping Program follows the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List of Substances, which is updated yearly. Meldonium was recently added to the WADA Prohibited List, which went into effect on January 1, 2016. WADA recently announced that they are currently conducting further studies of the substance which may influence how cases involving Meldonium are evaluated. In order to ensure Makhachev receives full and fair due process, USADA, the independent administrator of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, will consider all relevant information before making any determinations.

Additional information will be provided at the appropriate time as the process moves forward.”

With Mackhachev Vs Dober removed from the card, tonight’s UFC On FOX 19 event now proceeds with 11 fights. The event had also been hit earlier in the week by further drug testing revelations when Lyoto Machida admitted to inadvertently having used a banned substance, 7-keto-DHEA, leading to his fight with Dan Henderson being pulled from the co-main event.

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