Former UFC light heavyweight Ivan Shtyrkov has accepted a two-year suspension from USADA for violation of the UFC anti-doping rules. The Russian stated on social media that he tested positive for a banned substance and this was confirmed by USADA on Tuesday.
Despite accepting the suspension, Shtyrkov has signed with Rizin FF.
Shtyrkov accepted a fight against Devin Clark at UFC on ESPN +7 this past March but that fight was scrapped after USADA notified the UFC that two out-of-competition urine samples had returned an “atypical” result. The samples contained the banned steroid boldenone and its metabolite 5β-androst-1-en-17β-ol-3-one. Boldenone is a veterinarian drug used on horses but has been used by professional athletes. Notably, Stephan Bonnar and Josh Barnett had tested positive for the banned substance.
Boldenone is a non-Specified Substance in the class of Anabolic Agents and prohibited at all times under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.
Shtyrkov is undefeated with 16 wins and one draw. It was initially announced that he was “sick” and hospitalized as a reason from pulling out of his fight with Devin Clark. Shtyrkov’s manager indicated that a USADA test came back with an abnormal reading and not a positive test for PEDs.
Payout Perspective:
Here’s a case where you can argue that the USADA tests were not conclusive for the banned substance. Yet, evidence was clear enough to pull him from his UFC debut and we are brought back to the argument about how long a substance can remain in one’s system. We’ve seen this with Jon Jones and this may have been another case. Despite the ban, Shtyrkov has decided to continue his career with Rizin.
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