Official Drug Thread

[Jasen777]

Ex-Bellator champ Alexander Shlemenko suspended three years, fined $10K for positive drug test

Former Bellator MMA middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko was suspended three years and fined a total of $10,000 by the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) on Tuesday afternoon at an appeal hearing here in Downtown Los Angeles. Shlemenko tested positive for anabolic steroids before his second-round knockout win over Melvin Manhoef at Bellator 133 on Feb. 13 in Fresno, Calif.

Testing on Shlemenko's urine sample, which was screened at UCLA, showed that he had a 50:1 testostone/epitestosterone ratio. Anything more than 4:1 is illegal for a MMA fighter or boxer in California. The steroid oxandrolone and oxandrolone metabolites also showed up in Shlemenko's system. A second test on the sample confirmed the initial results.

[cowboyronnie]

Woah. Three years!!?

That might well be the end of his career.

Sucks for the fans, he was an amazing guy to watch. But 50:1?

How many previous times had he been tested in fights?

[REDDzone]

I'm sure I could poke around and find this out. But does anyone know off the top of their head why it is that Richman got 2 years while Schlemenko got 3? Same commission.

I don't think anyone from the ufc has tested positive since the new rules, have they? That said, lots of Mexico, Brazil, and other international shows...

[Jasen777]

I'm sure I could poke around and find this out. But does anyone know off the top of their head why it is that Richman got 2 years while Schlemenko got 3? Same commission.

I have no idea, but maybe for stupidity? 50-1! Do you even cycle bro?

[Jasen777]

What?

Anderson Silva's UFC 183 drug tests, taken two minutes apart, yield completely different results

Pictures have emerged of Anderson Silva's clean drug test results taken just hours before UFC 183 against Nick Diaz, which seemingly contradict another test that says he tested positive for the steroid Drostanolone.

According to Jorge Correa of the Brazilian blog Na Grade do MMA, the former Middleweight champion submitted two urine samples on Jan. 31, 2015, two minutes apart. The first sample was submitted to Quest Diagnostics and the second to Sports Medicine Research & Testing Laboratory. The second test came back positive and was sent to the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC).

But, here's where it gets really weird. The first sample was negative.

Somethings fishy there. Hard to say what though.

[REDDzone]

First off, didn't he test positive multiple times?

Secondly, what do they mean he took samples minutes apart? He peed twice within a few minutes? That's not my understanding of how it usually works. I thought he usually just pees in one cup and they pour some into another cup for two total samples.

Finally, wasn't it the same drug other blackhouse fighters have been caught with in the past. The dude is a juicer.

[SDM]

Maybe he peed an insufficient amount, chugged some water and went at it again?

THE WATER WAS SPIKED

[Jasen777]

The new drug testing policy also bans use of IV's to rehydrate. Apparently this was very common. Nova Uniao's leader is unhappy with it.

[Cammo101]

Gilbert Melendez fails drug test. Suspended for a year.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/7/6/8901861/ufc-188-gilbert-melendez-drug-test-failure-ped-steroid-use-suspension-Iaquinta-mma-news

[REDDzone]

Poor Giblert.

[Cammo101]

Poor Giblert.

No word yet on whether Giblert will be fighting in his place. Or maybe even the great Norifumi "Kid" Yakovlev.

[REDDzone]

Gil done effed up man. I didn't think about the angle of him probably being fired from fox now.

[Jasen777]

Jorge Masvidal: 'Not one person' is happy about the USADA ban on IV

Recently the USADA, the third-party agency heading the UFC’s new Anti-Doping Program, announced that IVs would be banned going forward. Many fighters, particularly wrestlers who’ve had to cut weight for years, rehydrate after weight cuts intravenously. The ban will take effect in October, allowing for a grace period for fighters....

Masvidal (28-9), who trains out of American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida, said he’s heard rumblings from other fighters who don’t like the idea of IVs being banned.

"I’ve heard more complaining and bitching and stuff, I haven’t officially heard from guys that they are going to go up in weight," he said. "But I have not heard, not one person who is happy about it. I just don’t understand, if what they can explain to us exactly why. They’re saying it’s because of steroids, that you can filter out the steroids with IVs and stuff, but, I mean, I don’t know. There has to be a way that we can get hydrated and keep it safe."

Wonder if we'll see a lot of fighters moving up. Have to think it's a good thing if that happens. I wonder which big names depend on IV's (apparently it's pretty common). Could McGregor make 145 after October? Weidman and Rockhold 185?

[REDDzone]

Just listened to that interview, Masvidal said with the IV ban if they abolished WW tomorrow, he would have to go to 185 rather than go back to 155 because of the cut.

[Jasen777]

Dolce on the warpath about the IV ban.

Trainer and fitness guru Mike Dolce doesn't sound happy about USADA's plan to ban the use of IVs following UFC weigh-ins.

Rehydrating intravenously following a weight cut is fairly standard practice for most fighters, allowing them to balloon back up in a few short hours. Pedialyte just doesn't cut it.

Not good news for someone like Dolce, someone athletes pay to help them get the most out of their bodies, literally.

"I think it's ridiculous, and it's not official yet," Dolce told fans via an online Q&A (via Bloody Elblow). "There's a lot of laws surrounding that, where USADA was brought in, the out of season testing, and they're licensed through the UFC. They don't have a direct effect on the athletic commissions. Now, the rules of sport are governed by the athletic commissions and as of right now, the athletic commission does not ban the use of intravenous fluids post-weigh in for rehydration purposes.

....

"Someone would die because of [brain injuries] and that's exactly what I was saying," Dolce continued. "So, I don't think the people involved in the sport will actually allow that for a combat sport like mixed martial arts, it makes no sense.

I can't stand listening to him, so correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that if a weight cut has such serious issues without IV use, it's because you're cutting more weight than what is healthy (and even with IV use repeated weight cuts like that are not good for you). Fighters fighting closer to their real weight seems like a win for everyone - possibly better action in the cage for fans, one less long term health risk for fighters (and if no one is cutting a ton of weight they even be fighting the same people mostly).

I don't know if banning IV's would have that much effect though. If it did, probably have to shut down flyweight. But HW would be much more interesting if guys like Cromier, Gus, Teixeria, and Jones have to move up (LHW would be recover with guys like Weidman and Rockhold moving up, and so on).

[cowboyronnie]

Dolce is such a twat. it's a danger to fighters that they won't be facilitated in doing something insane? everyone is held to this standard, it deescalates the arms race.

you'll fight better and safer closer to your natural weight. unquestionably true. Dolce encourages the exact opposite.

The ufc is claiming ivs can be used to cover PED usage. I haven't seen that mentioned. ..or analyzed.

[Jasen777]

The ufc is claiming ivs can be used to cover PED usage. I haven't seen that mentioned. ..or analyzed.

I don't know if it's really the UFC claiming that, it's a USADA standard. Don't know about the validity of it.

Edit: wonder if the UFC was even aware of the IV issue when they went with USADA.

[Jasen777]

Well Hendricks is saying that rehydrating without an IV isn't a big deal and that's what they did all the time in wrestling.

[Jasen777]

Aldo seems to disagree with the IV ban.

"Just say you’re feeling sick and go to the hospital and they will rehydrate with an IV anyway. They can’t say ‘oh, come back later’," he continued. "But I don’t know about that yet. As an athlete, it’s hard to not use IV because that’s the best way to rehydrate. They came here saying oral rehydration is better, but I don’t know how they came up with that. Any sick people that go to a hospital, the first thing they do is an IV."

Aldo said he doesn’t care about the IV ban, and challenges USADA and the athletic commission to find a way to prove he’s used it.

"I will continue to do IV, I don’t care. I’ll tell them I’m going to eat and do it instead," he said. "They won’t take me out of the f---ing fight, so I don’t care. They can say whatever they want, but it’s scientifically proved the best way to rehydrate. Only if they put security guard with me 24 hours a day. I don’t care. That’s what’s going to happen.

"I will do it anyway, or someone else will do it for me. I will go to a friend’s house, to a different hotel room. I don’t f---ing care about them. They won’t take me out of the fight anyway. They can’t take me from the fight. It’s not doping. They will say they will test me.

"How are they going to get IV rehydration from my urine, brother? Only if they got new techniques. They are ninjas. They are f---ing stupid."

[SDM]

Any ideas what changing weigh ins to the day of might accomplish, if anything? Would it change enough in the cut strategy to keep guys at their current weight classes? No idea. I mostly gain weight, not lose it.