UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that there are no loopholes or unfair advantages for his opponent, especially during the post-weigh-in rehydration process.
Adesanya will try to defeat Alex Pereira on Saturday night as this will be his last opportunity to even the score against the Brazilian striker. Before they enter the Octagon, Adesanya wants to make sure his opponent’s post-weigh-in rehydration is done in a proper manner.
Adesanya took to Twitter to express his concerns and called on the USADA to strictly monitor the competitors from the moment they step off the scale until they enter the Octagon.
This request by Adesanya is believed to be influenced by recent allegations of IV use by Islam Makhachev after his weigh-in at UFC 284 against Alexander Volkanovski. Adesanya’s City Kickboxing teammate Dan Hooker had accused Makhachev of hiring a nurse to administer an IV for rehydration. This incident sparked controversy in the MMA community.
Dan Hooker replied to Israel Adesanya’s tweet to USADA for monitoring competitors by saying, “Happy gambling.” In response to Hooker’s comments, Adesanya stated that if he couldn’t stop the rule breakers, he might as well consider joining them.
There is no proof suggesting that Makhachev used IV to rehydrate during his match with Volkanovski. However, popular MMA agent Ali Abdelaziz seemed to justify the usage of IV use in a social media post that was shortly removed.
The UFC later issued a statement on the USADA website clarifying the rules on IV usage, stating that infusions or injections of more than 100 mL per 12-hour period are prohibited except in specific cases such as hospital treatments, surgical procedures, or medically-justified reasons. This revelation surprised many fans and competitors who had assumed that IV usage was entirely prohibited.
“All IV infusions and/or injections of more than 100 mL (~6.8 tablespoons) per 12-hour period are prohibited at all times, both in and out-of-competition, except for those legitimately received in our out-of-competition in the course of hospital treatments, surgical procedures, clinical diagnostic investigations, and/or those received that are determined to be medically-justified and within the standard of care by a licensed physician and administered by a licensed medical professional, without an approved Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE)”
Both Adesanya and Pereira successfully made weight for their middleweight title rematch at UFC 287.