It's a story that very few UFC fans are familiar with; Islam Makhachev once had to undergo surgery to correct a heart condition, with his recovery inadvertently leading to him failing a USADA test.
With UFC 311 just around the corner, Bloody Elbow searches the MMA archives for some insight into the life of dominant UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.
The Dagestani was once famously pulled from a UFC fight after failing a USADA out-of-competition test; but why did Makhachev get so excited, and why was it ultimately determined that he was 'not at fault' for the violation?
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
UFC champion Islam Makhachev describes his heart surgery procedure
In 2014, Islam Makhachev was competing in Combat Sambo and had just won the Russian National Championship when doctors diagnosed him with a heart condition.
“I started to inform myself about the issue and I found a very good doctor, he gave me advice,” Makhachev said during a 2020 interview on the Russian YouTube channel 'Hands Up'.
“He told me, 'If you want to have a big career, if you want to perform for a long time, I can give you a minor operation,' and it was a heart ablation.”
It turned out that the future UFC champion was suffering from cardiac arrhythmia, a condition that causes a person's heart to beat too fast, too slow or in an irregular pattern.
“My heart was beating almost normally, but then it made another jump – like an extra beat,” Makhachev explained, with cardiac ablations fortunately being a minimally invasive procedure.
“They burned a small part of the heart that caused it [and] After this minor operation I have had no more arrhythmia problems.”
The news came just six days before Makhachev was due to fly to Japan for the Combat Sambo World Championships, leaving him confused as to why the issue had only just been picked up.
“A week before the championship I was told that my heart was not going well… The National Team staff could have told me about this earlier [as] after the Russian championship they have me [do] had a full medical checkup and found this problem.
'I didn't cause any scandal, I'm not sure why they did this. Maybe someone would benefit from telling me just before a World Cup so I couldn't do anything about it, but anyway I was withdrawn.”
Islam Makhachev explains how an operation led to USADA failure
Makhachev's initial concerns were allayed when his doctor explained how famed Russian biathlete Dmitry Malyshko had won Olympic gold just six months after surgery.
However, the same doctor also prescribed Makhachev a course of Meldonium; a drug that, while beneficial for people recovering from cardiac arrhythmias, continues to be scrutinized for its performance-enhancing effects in the sports world.
Unfortunately, it is also a disease that can persist in the body for quite a long time; long enough to be picked up by USADA when Makhachev signed to fight Drew Dober in 2016.
“It then turns out that Meldonium remains in the body for six to seven months. I didn't take it regularly – just the occasional tablet… It's like a vitamin for the heart.
“It can be dangerous if an athlete tends to neglect his health problems [and] Heart surgery is no joke… I weighed all the information and came to the conclusion that it could help”
While Makhachev noted that it was unfortunate to be suspended – with USADA later finding he was 'not at fault' for the failed test – he also admitted that it would have hampered his UFC title aspirations if he had ignored the issue completely.
“If I refused to have this operation, I think the arrhythmia would cause me a lot more problems now. I have thorough medical checks with the UFC, I wouldn't be able to hide it and I would be pulled.”
Islam Makhachev receives his jacket for 50 clean UFC drug tests.
Jeff Novitzky explains why Makhachev's 2016 failed test was NOT legit. pic.twitter.com/9N0NdIf25S
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) May 29, 2024
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Makhachev's mother was furious because he had not told her about the operation
Considering that Makhachev is a lifelong athlete, it is understandable why he was concerned about both the arrhythmia and the treatment options available.
In fact, he was so concerned about the potential impact on his future career that he “didn't even tell anyone at home” that he was about to go under the knife.
“I told my friend, a brother, maybe three to four people at most and moved to Moscow for the operation.
“Later, when I got this Meldonium problem, I had a lot of documents, a pile of them, my whole medical history, check-up results. So when I was caught with Meldonium during my tests, I immediately called my brother – he left the whole pile on the table at home.”
Unfortunately, Makhachev's mother was the first to gain access to the medical records – and it's safe to say she wasn't very happy that the future UFC legend had kept his surgery a secret.
'My mother found them and read through them excitingly that evening, and then she called me quite angrily: 'You had surgery and didn't tell anyone?!' I tried to explain to her that it is nothing, but you can't explain that to parents.”
Will the hearts of his UFC fans be broken, or will Islam Makhachev continue to reign as the dominant king of the UFC lightweight division? Find out on January 18 when he takes on Arman Tsarukyan in the main event of UFC 311.
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