On Friday, the current anti-doping partner for UFC, Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD) suspended “Russian Ronda” Irina Alekseeva (5-2) for a year due to elevated levels of testosterone consistent with exogenous administration.
According to the CSAD, the former UFC partner, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) handled Alekseeva’s matter in a confusing manner. They stated that Alekseeva’s samples were collected on June 21st, 2023. However, USADA has failed to inform the result to the fighter & UFC four months after the collection.
Irina Alekseeva last competed on October 14th, 2023, where she lost to Melissa Mullins via unanimous decision. CSAD stated that USADA informed Alekseeva about the result on October 31st.
CSAD added that “USADA collected two additional samples from Alekseeva BEFORE her October 14, 2023, fight, (August 8, 2023, and September 13, 2023) that were both negative. It should be noted that when CSAD took over the independent administrator role of UFC ADP from USADA on December 31, 2023, it requested additional, more specific testing of those two samples that USADA had not. The results of this additional testing facilitated by CSAD were negative. Alekseeva was also tested by the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) on October 14, 2023, the date of her last UFC fight, and was negative. All three of these subsequent negative samples were collected from Alekseeva before she was informed of her June 21, 2023, positive sample.”
CSAD has determined that Alekseeva’s degree of fault was lowered based on the following facts:
- USADA’s failure to notify Alekseeva of the positive test for more than 4 months after the sample collection delayed and hindered her ability to recall details and produce information relating to the period when she produced the June 21, 2023, sample.
- Alekseeva produced three (3) negative test results PRIOR to her being informed of the adverse finding on October 31, 2023, supporting that she was not regularly using or being exposed to testosterone. Additionally, she provided previous samples on April 21, 2023, and April 29, 2023, that both were also negative.
- Alekseeva and her team fully cooperated with CSAD’s investigation, including submitting to multiple interviews, submitting records, and shipping and transporting several products that she had consumed for testing.
Irina Alekseeva’s suspension will expire on October 15th, 2024.