Just a couple of months following the announcement of his lengthy suspension, Alexander Shlemenko revealed that he has filed the necessary documentation to appeal his drug suspension in a California court.
The former Bellator middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko tested positive for a banned substance according to the California State Athletic Commission, which MMAJunkie later revealed to be an elevated testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio of 50:1. Because of this — at a hearing last week in front of the commission — Shlemenko was fined $10,000 and suspended for three years.
“We have submitted all the documents to the court,” Shlemenko told Championat.com (h/t Tass.ru). “Now the bureaucratic procedures will begin, and will last for some time.”
According to Shlemenko, the suspension was a predictable one, but also unjust. His main defense during the hearing was the lack of a B sample to confirm the positive test. He hopes that a judicial review of the administrative decision will benefit him, as he has no interest in hanging his gloves up just yet.
“I think it’s silly to retire at the age of 30. I do not understand where did such opinions came from. In front of me are examples like Dan Henderson and Randy Couture. Henderson still fights and he is already 44 years old. But I am not 40 years old so I do not consider this possibility.”
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