Alexander Volkanovski’s longtime head coach, Joe Lopez, has come forward with information regarding Islam Makhachev’s team requesting IVs before their blockbuster title bout at UFC 284.
According to Lopez, IV bags were ordered to the rooms of the Russian team before the event. Volkanovski’s camp learned about this beforehand but initially kept this information to themselves.
Makhachev denied Volkanovski triumph on home soil, winning the thrilling main event in Perth by a unanimous decision of 28-27, 28-27, 29-26. Despite the loss, Volkanovski maintained his position as the number one in the UFC pound-for-pound rankings.
Lopez told Dailymail Australia:
‘Apparently, when the girl came [from the IV delivery service] there they wanted her to drop off the bags [and leave], but she said she couldn’t. It was against the company policy,’ said Lopez.
‘They [The Russian team] said, they wanted her to put some vitamins into the IV bag and she said “I don’t know what that is, I’m not doing it”.
‘Those guys are pretty intimidating and started putting the bounce on her and she rang her boss and the boss said just leave the bags and get out of there, and that’s what they’ve done.’
Lopez wasn’t a fan of UFC’s attitude towards IV use:
‘I hope they put a stop to it. Either everybody uses it or nobody uses it,’ he said.
‘I’ve got texts and things I’ve seen from certain people in the UFC saying that 90% of the UFC roster uses IVs and all that. I just wrote back, we are probably the 10% that doesn’t.’
‘Some of these guys take nine hours to get back to normal [after cutting weight]. You get an IV and you’re back to normal in 20 mins. ‘
He went on to clarify IV use was initially banned because it helped mask PED use and diuretics (which are also illegal according to USADA guidelines):
‘The bad thing about them is that they use them to mask other things – diuretics or performance [PEDs] – it masks all that, and that’s why they stopped it.’
Daily Mail Australia contacted numerous IV delivery companies in Perth to comment, but didn’t receive a reply. Story developing.