ACA president reveals most fighters fail drug tests, discusses challenges

ACA president Magomed Bibulatov candidly discussed doping issues in the promotion during an interview with Ushatayka. He revealed that there are more fighters on performance-enhancing drugs than clean fighters in the league. Bibulatov noted that fighters taking bouts on short notice are usually clean because "they didn't have time to apply anything." He explained the league gave fighters six months to clear their systems and allowed certain permitted substances, but violations remain widespread. Bibulatov stated he wanted to suspend violators for one year but acknowledged that without collaboration across all Russian promotions, the problem cannot be solved due to the high costs of testing. He mentioned they have data on which fighters use banned substances but questioned whether making these lists public would be beneficial.