Anti-Doping
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.
CSAD independently administers the year-round anti-doping program for all UFC athletes. All biological sample collections and shipping under the UFC ADP are conducted by Drug Free Sport International (DFSI), the global leader in the anti-doping industry with more than 5,000 collection personnel worldwide. All information concerning the UFC ADP, including all of its written policies and athlete test statistics can be located at ufcantidoping.com. These policies are available in multiple languages, including Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Korean, Japanese and Chinese.
CSAD also makes available a reporting mechanism for known and suspected abuse of performance-enhancing drugs in UFC at the email address tipline@csad.org .
