Magomedrasul Gasanov was removed from his scheduled UFC fight against Abubakar Vagaev after a substance in his system raised concerns with the promotion. According to his training partner Ikram Aliskerov, Gasanov submitted records of everything he had taken over the past six months and his tests came back clean, but the UFC flagged one substance as prohibited due to how long it remains detectable in the bloodstream. Aliskerov compared the situation to past cases involving mildronate, suggesting the substance may have been a common supplement rather than a deliberate doping violation.
Magomedrasul Gasanov has been pulled from a scheduled UFC bout against Abubakar Vagaev after the promotion flagged a substance detected in his system as prohibited, according to information shared publicly by his training partner Ikram Aliskerov.
Aliskerov, an 18-2 middleweight fighter from Russia who trains alongside Gasanov at KHK MMA, said Gasanov had submitted documentation covering everything he had consumed over the prior six months and that his tests returned clean results. Despite that, the UFC identified one substance as banned based on how long it remains detectable in the bloodstream. Aliskerov drew a comparison to previous cases involving mildronate, indicating the flagged compound may have been a widely used supplement rather than the product of intentional performance enhancement.
Gasanov's removal leaves the planned matchup with Vagaev without a competitor on his side, and no replacement opponent or revised booking has been confirmed at this stage.
Why it matters
- Gasanov's withdrawal raises questions about the UFC's process for distinguishing between deliberate doping and incidental supplement contamination.
- The mildronate parallel cited by Aliskerov points to an ongoing grey area in anti-doping enforcement, where long detection windows can implicate fighters using substances that may not be currently prohibited in all jurisdictions.
- Vagaev is left without a scheduled opponent, disrupting his own preparation and timeline.
- The involvement of Aliskerov, a prominent KHK MMA member with a 64 percent striking accuracy and 6.86 significant strikes landed per minute, adds visibility to the situation given his own profile in the middleweight division.
