Islam Makhachev's longtime coach Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov revealed that his student used meldonium until the end of 2015.
Less than 24 hours ahead of his scheduled preliminary bout against Drew Dober on the UFC on FOX 19 card, Islam Makhachev was removed from the bout because of a flagged pre-fight drug test for meldonium.
The lightweight's manager, Ali Abdel-Aziz, immediately came to the defence of his client and informed MMAFighting.com's Ariel Helwani that Makhachev was using the blood flow drug because of a heart procedure he had undergone in 2015. Lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov quickly followed suit and came to the aid of his teammate via social media.