The California State Athletic Commission has suspended former Bellator MMA middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko for three years due to a failed drug test in February.
Shlemenko, 31, appeared in person at the commission hearing Tuesday in Los Angeles, in order to appeal the results of the failed test. The CSAC denied the appeal, and voted unanimously in favor of the suspension and a $10,000 fine.
Melvin Manhoef via second-round knockout in the night's main event. The result has since been changed to a no-contest.
Shlemenko denied the use of any banned substance and argued, through attorney Howard Jacobs, that the test results should be thrown out since there was no B sample available to confirm the results. Shlemenko blamed the results of the failed test on "some kind of mistake."
Jacobs argued that contracts between the CSAC and the UCLA lab that analyzes results call for split samples to be taken, which would allow athletes to demand a B sample be tested to confirm any irregular results.
"The UCLA lab can't do their job without a split sample," Jacobs said. "It's quite clear the state athletic commission violated the terms of the contract."
Anthony Butch, director of the UCLA lab, disagreed with Jacobs' assertion and added the testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio of 50-to-1 in Shlemenko's sample has never produced a negative result for testosterone use.
"What we found in the bottle is what we found in the bottle," Butch said. "I've never had a T/E ratio of 50-1 that didn't confirm [synthetic] testosterone use."
CSAC executive director Andy Foster told commission members that B samples are often collected during the fight night process but sometimes are skipped due to the busy nature of fighter locker rooms. According to Foster, California statutes do not specifically call for split samples within collection procedures.
LINK to full story: Alexander Shlemenko suspended for 3 years by CSAC after failed drug test
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