Undefeated UFC 205-pounder Azamat Murzakanov abruptly pulled out of his UFC 309 clash against Nikita Krylov barely ten days from the bout. This left many fans scratching their heads. Finally, the reason why he couldn’t compete on the November 16, Madison Square Garden card has been revealed- he was put on suspension by the CSAD for failing a drug test.

“Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD) has announced that Azamat Murzakanov has accepted a 180-day sanction for a violation of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy,” MMA Orbit reported today, in part quoting the CSAD’s official press release on the topic.

Apparently, Murzakanov was suspended after his blood sample taken on October 8 tested positive “for the low-level presence of a metabolite of LGD 4033, a prohibited at all times substance” according to CSAD. The Russian was put on suspension by CSAD starting November 1 and will serve a 180-day suspension that will end on May 1, 2025.

Apparently, Murazkanov ingested this banned substance from a tainted dietary supplement, which was promptly dispatched to a lab by CSAD for testing. It is important to note that the testing lab CSAD used told them that such low levels of the banned substance “would not provide any significant performance advantage,” which means that the Russian may have ingested the substance unknowingly.

Interestingly, the anti-doping body had originally determined that “an appropriate sanction for Murzakanov adverse finding is a 90-day period of ineligibility.” However, since the #12 ranked light heavyweight “had served a previous suspension under the UFC-ADP in 2019,” his suspension was doubled to 180 days or six months. There was another high-profile light heavyweight suspended for ingesting a banned substance this year, and the Russian’s case has some striking similarities with the undefeated fighter’s case.

Khalil Rountree Jr.’s suspension has some lessons for Azamat Murzakanov after coming back

Khalil Rountree Jr. was set to face Jamahal Hill in the biggest fight of his career until then at UFC 303. After all, ‘The War Horse’ would probably have become a top-five ranked guy in the division, and had a case to fight for the title next. However, just about a month after that scheduled clash, it was revealed that he had tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid, DHEA.

Rountree Jr., like Murzakanov, also ingested the banned substance through a tainted substance. In fact, the tailored supplement service that had sent ‘The War Horse’ those pills admitted to a ‘massive oversight’ on its part. Interestingly, the 205fer had self-reported ingesting the substance accidentally.

And since the anti-doping body found his explanations convincing, combined with the fact that Rountree Jr. had come forward himself, the CSAD handed him a pretty lenient two-month suspension initially, which was extended to four and a half months by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

In the end, however, things worked out beautifully for Rountree Jr. as he was matched up against champ Alex Pereira at UFC 307 in October. While there are some notable differences between Rountree Jr. and Murzakanov’s case, there is no reason the Russian cannot come back stronger and continue his dominant run. What do you think about Azamat Murzakanov’s suspension?