MMA News

Tag: USADA

  • Former UFC Title Challenger Faces Six-Month Ban After Positive Drug Test

    Former UFC Title Challenger Faces Six-Month Ban After Positive Drug Test

    A former UFC women’s title challenger has seen her career continue on a downward trajectory.

    On Wednesday, USADA announced that PFL women’s flyweight Taila Santos has accepted a six-month suspension for violating the promotion’s Anti-Doping Policy. The drug-testing agency revealed that the 31-year-old Brazilian tested positive for banned substances, including oxandrolone and its metabolites, as well as clenbuterol, following an out-of-competition sample collected on March 21.

    The suspension is effective for six months, with Santos’ ineligibility retroactively beginning from the date her sample was collected. She will be eligible to return to competition on September 21.

    As a result of the failed drug test, Santos was removed from her scheduled fight against Juliana Velasquez at the April 12 PFL World Tournament event.

    Santos’ most recent appearance came at the 2024 PFL World Championship in November, where she was stopped in the second round by reigning flyweight champion Dakota Ditcheva. The defeat marked her first loss in four PFL appearances.

    https://twitter.com/espnmma/status/1862600002956071029

    Santos parted ways with the UFC in November 2023, leaving the promotion with a 4-3 record. Her exit followed back-to-back losses, including a narrow split decision defeat to Valentina Shevchenko in a UFC Women’s Flyweight Championship bout at UFC 275 in July 2022.

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

    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 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.”

  • Archives: Sanchez Goes On Rant After Kevin Lee Misses Weight (2020)

    Two days ago, Kevin Lee successfully made weight and defeated Diego Sanchez at Eagle FC 46 in a 165 lbs. catchweight bout. Two years ago, Sanchez blasted Lee for missing weight ahead of his bout against Charles Oliveira. Oliveira would go on to get the victory anyway, but not before Sanchez gave Lee a piece of his mind.

    The following article was published on this day two years ago. It is presented to you in its original, unaltered form, courtesy of The MMA News Archives.

    [ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED MARCH 13, 2020, 7:33 PM]

    Headline: Diego Sanchez Goes On Rant After Kevin Lee Misses Weight For UFC Brasilia

    Author: Fernando Quiles Jr.

    Diego Sanchez is not happy that IV use is banned for weight cuts under USADA.

    Ever since the UFC introduced USADA for its anti-doping measures, it has made an impact. Whether you like it or hate it, USADA is here to stay and has been since 2015. While some have praised USADA for keeping fighters clean, others have bashed the agency for being inconsistent with punishments as it pertains to victims of tainted supplements.

    Diego Sanchez Blasts USADA’s IV Ban

    Another result of USADA being put in place by the UFC is the ban on IV’s for weight cutting. After Kevin Lee missed weight once again for UFC Brasilia, Sanchez posted a rant on Instagram on how the IV ban has negatively affected fighters.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/B9rux5gJfse/

    “Another main event misses weight and he will win.. I have been saying it for years weight cutting is bullsh*t it’s bad for the fighters health! Why no change? Why no hydration tests? If your going to allow weight cutting then you should definitely allow IV’s it’s impossible to rehydrate adequately! Therefore creating a unfair place for competition where some guys don’t give a f*ck and use IV’s anyway.”

    Weight cutting has been an issue in the world of combat sports for years and it’s unlikely that a universal solution will come anytime soon. Promotions such as ONE Championship have tried to mitigate the issue by ensuring that drastic weight fluctuations are banned and will result in an automatic bout cancelation. There are still measures in place to negotiate a catchweight if a fighter is hydrated but has failed to make the limit by half a pound. UFC color commentator Joe Rogan has praised the system put in place by ONE Championship.

    Whether or not the UFC ever utilizes such a system remains to be seen. While ONE’s main goal when it comes to weigh-cutting has been to eliminate dehydration, it’s still an issue for most other MMA promotions.

  • Archives: Woodley Reveals How He Lost $10,000 Waiting On USADA (2019)

    The following article is presented to you in its original, unaltered form, courtesy of The MMA News Archives.

    On This Day Three Years Ago…

    [ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 26, 2019, 1:12 PM]

    Headline: Tyron Woodley Reveals How He Lost $10,000 Waiting On A Random USADA Drug Test

    Author: Damon Martin

    UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has always been proud to compete as a clean athlete, which is why he fully supports the random drug testing done by USADA.

    As the enforcers of the UFC’s anti-doping policy, USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) is in charge of randomly testing fighters at any time, place or occasion without much notice before making an appearance to draw blood or urine.

    Woodley has always tested clean throughout his career while remaining one of the most tested athletes on the UFC roster. He was even given an award for a consecutive streak of clean tests under the UFC’s anti-doping policy.

    Unfortunately, Woodley found out just how random the testing can be earlier this year when he received a call to submit a sample while he was traveling to Atlanta to take part in the Super Bowl festivities ahead of the game between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams.

    “They tested me Super Bowl weekend, the lady came to me, bless her soul, cause I said a few unchoice words to her with respect. She came to test me at 12 a.m. on Super Bowl weekend knowing the reason I was in Atlanta was probably for Super Bowl and I had some appearances that I was supposed to be at,” Woodley revealed during a media luncheon ahead of UFC 235.

    “I had an event with Devonte Freeman and Meek Mill I was supposed to be at. An event with Ludacris and Snoop Dogg and I was in the hotel waiting on her to come in 45-minutes of traffic to test me. So she tested me around 1 a.m. and I missed those events.”

    According to Woodley, he asked the person sent to collect his sample if there was any way this could be done in the morning so he wouldn’t miss his appearances but that was not allowed.

    Woodley then revealed that the tester told him she couldn’t make it to collect his sample earlier because she had an event of her own that couldn’t be missed.

    “I said I have an event I have to go to that I’m missing money because I’m supposed to be there,” Woodley said. “She said ‘well I can meet you there’, I said ‘no, you can’t get in, you can’t be on the list’.

    “So I had to wait there and she tested me at 1 a.m. and I was not happy.”

    Because the person collecting his sample was stuck in traffic for 45 minutes, Woodley had to wait in his hotel for over an hour until she arrived to test him.

    Woodley ultimately missed his events that night and according to the reigning welterweight champion it cost him a hefty paycheck.

    “[I lost] about $10,000,” Woodley revealed. “So USADA I’m not happy right now.”