Coach Eugene Bareman elaborates on Makhachev accusations of IV usage

Following UFC 284, Dan Hooker claimed on Twitter that Islam Makhachev had resorted to forbidden measures in order to defeat Alexander Volkanovski in the main event.

The No. 11-ranked lightweight alleged in a series of tweets that the lightweight champion used IV, something the UFC has banned since 2019. City Kickboxing head coach Eugene Bareman recently commented on the allegations.

On The MMA Hour, Bareman said to Ariel Helwani:

“We have reliable information to a point… the information, it falls short for several reasons, and one of them is that you can actually take an IV before a fight. It just has to be 100 ml of saline every 12 hours in a 12 hour block. What it has to come down to is whether you believe that people are going to take this saline, 100 ml, and then stop.”

Bareman emphasized that the information collected hasn’t yet been confirmed. He said:

“There’s enough information there for to be like, ‘Eeeh…’ This is why Alex and the rest of the team are laughing because we’re like, something’s going on there, we just can’t reliably say what it is. It’s frustrating because the whole sport should be played on an even playing field… If anyone on my team was doing something illegal, then I would immediately distance the team from that person. Maybe something will come out in the wash.”

Dan Hooker’s claims have not been answered by Islam Makhachev. However, his team has already refuted them. His co-manager Rizvan Magomedov said that Volkanovski was merely a jealous loser spreading falsehoods.

Dan Hooker wasn’t the only City Kickboxing member to charge Islam Makhachev of using an IV. Alexander Volkanovski seemed to make light of the situation when chatting to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, saying:

“I ended up weighing myself. I think I was like 76 [or] 77 kilograms so maybe 170 or just under 170 [pounds]… What would 80 [or] 81 kilograms? 178 or 180 [pounds], I think [Islam Makhachev] would have been. I’ve heard he gets up to 180, like 83 kilograms closely. You fill up pretty quick on the IV’s and stuff like that… Maybe that’s a little shot at him.”