Australian lightweight and now former UFC fighter Alex Gorgees, has accepted a 16-month ban after testing positive for prohibitive substances, per a USADA press-release that came out on Saturday morning.
Gorgees’ urine sample came back positive for a metabolite of drostanolone and a long-term metabolite of dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (DHCMT), both of which are prohibited in and out of competition under the UFC Anti-Doping policy.
The 23-year-old submitted samples as part of his short-notice UFC debut against Damir Ismagulov on the UFC Adelaide card in December in which he lost a unanimous decision.
Gorgees was facing a 24-month ban from the sport and despite testing positive in further samples, he was able to get his ban reduced to 16-months through co-operation with the relevant authorties.
The press release noted that Gorgees had been released by the UFC.
Press release below:
USADA announced today that Alex Gorgees, of Sydney, Australia, has accepted a 16-month sanction for a violation of the UFC® Anti-Doping Policy after testing positive for prohibited substances.
Gorgees, 23, tested positive for a metabolite of drostanolone and a long-term metabolite of dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (DHCMT), 4-chloro-18-nor-17β-hydroxymethyl,17α-methyl-5α-androst-13-en-3α-ol (M3), as the result of a urine sample provided in-competition on December 2, 2018 at UFC Fight Night in Adelaide, Australia, and he continued to test positive for both metabolites in an out-of-competition sample provided on December 10, 2018. He then tested positive for only the DHCMT metabolite on January 16, 2019.
Drostanolone and DHCMT are non-Specified Substances in the class of Anabolic Agents and prohibited at all times under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.
Gorgees immediately came forward with detailed evidence of his use of prohibited substances before entering the UFC Anti-Doping Program and continued to cooperate throughout USADA’s investigation related to his use, even after his release from the UFC. As a result, Gorgees received a reduction from the maximum two-year period of ineligibility for a doping offense involving a non-Specified Substance.
Gorgees’ 16-month period of ineligibility began on December 2, 2018, the date his first positive sample was collected. Under the rules, any decision concerning competition results is handled by the Commission and the UFC.
