UFC light heavyweight Azamat
Murzakanov has accepted a six-month suspension for an
anti-doping violation that occurred earlier this year.
Advertisement
Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD) announced Monday that Murzakanov
tested positive for the “low-level presence” of a metabolite of LGD
4033 — a banned anabolic agent — in an out-of-competition sample
collected on Oct. 8. It was determined by the Sports Medicine and
Research Testing Laboratory (SMRTL) that the failed test resulted
from a contaminated supplement, and that the amount of LGD 4033
metaboite contained in Murzakanov’s sample would not “provide any
significant performance advantage.”
While such a result would have normally resulted in a 90-day
sanction for Murzakanov, he received a 180-day term because it is
his second anti-doping violation with the UFC. The 35-year-old
Russian’s suspension is retroactive to Nov. 1, which means he will
be eligible to return to active competition on May 1, 2025.
Murzakanov was supposed to face Nikita
Krylov at UFC 309
on Nov. 16 before the anti-doping violation resulted in the bout
being pulled from the card.
Murzakanov previously tested positive for a steroid metabolite in
an out-of-competition sample in 2017 prior to his UFC debut. That
resulted in a
two-year suspension from USADA, the promotion’s former
anti-doping partner. Murzakanov ultimately wouldn’t make his first
Octagon foray until March 2022 after earning a UFC contract on
Dana White’s Contender Series.
“The Professional” is 14-0 over the course of an MMA tenure that
began in 2010. His 4-0 promotional mark includes triumphs over
Alonzo
Menifield, Dustin
Jacoby, Devin Clark
and Tafon
Nchukwi.
The full statement from CSAD is as follows:
Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD) announced today that Azamat
Murzakanov, of Nalchik, Russia, has accepted a 180-day sanction for
a violation of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy (UFC ADP).
Murzakanov tested positive for the low-level presence of a
metabolite of LGD 4033, a prohibited at all times substance in the
class of anabolic agents on the UFC Prohibited List, from an out of
competition sample collected from him on October 8, 2024. A sealed
bottle of a purported dietary supplement that Murzakanov used
leading up to this sample provision was procured and sent to the
UFC ADP’s testing laboratory, Sports Medicine and Research Testing
Laboratory (SMRTL), in Salt Lake City, Utah, for analysis. The
analysis found a low-level presence of LGD-4033 in the sealed
supplement, despite not being listed on its labeled ingredients.
SMRTL advised CSAD that the low level of LGD-4033 contaminant in
the sealed supplement, as well as the low level of LGD-4033
metabolite in Murzakanov’s sample, would not provide any
significant performance advantage. Additionally, a follow up sample
that was collected from Murzakanov on October 31, 2024, before he
was notified of the adverse October 8, 2024 sample, was negative.
This supported Murzakanov’s timeline about when he took and
discontinued taking the contaminated supplement in question.
CSAD determined that an appropriate sanction for Murzakanov adverse
finding is a 90-day period of ineligibility. Despite the source of
the adverse finding coming from a dietary supplement that listed no
prohibited substances on its label, the supplement was not 3rd
party tested and certified like all UFC athletes are educated to
exclusively use. Because Murzakanov served a previous suspension
under the UFC-ADP in 2019, this was Murzakanov’s second violation
under the program and his sanction was therefore doubled to
180-days. Murzakanov’s suspension began on November 1, 2024, the
day he was notified of this adverse finding in writing by CSAD and
placed on a provisional suspension. Murzakanov’s suspension will
expire 180-days later, on May 1, 2025.