Pedro Alex has just been handed a one year suspension from IBJJF competition as the result of a failed PEDs test. Alex has been a top competitor for quite some time now and holds wins over some of the most notable names in the sport like Roberto ‘Cyborg’ Abreu and Roberto Jimenez. He’s stood on the podium of several big events since he was promoted to black belt in 2020 but it was this year that he managed to reach the highest level of success in his career so far. Alex won a silver medal in the ultra-heavyweight division of the IBJJF World Championship 2024, and that should have been a huge moment in his career.
Instead, USADA have just announced that Alex had tested positive for clomiphene and its metabolite ((Z)-3′-hydroxyclomiphene) in an in-competition test conducted at the IBJJF World Championship. Alex has now accepted the violation of anti-doping rules and has been given a one year suspension from IBJJF competition that has begun on the date of his initial provisional suspension, which is July 12th, 2024. Alex has also now been stripped of any medals or prizes that he won in IBJJF competition from the date of the test itself, which is June 2nd, 2024. This means that he will no longer have any medals from the IBJJF World Championship this year and he will not be eligible to compete in the same event in 2025.
One of the most interesting elements of this story is the fact that if he had not tested positive for clomiphene then he would have actually been promoted to champion. That’s because Pedro Alex was not the only man standing on the ultra-heavyweight podium at the IBJJF World Championship 2024 who failed a PEDs test. The man who beat Alex in the final and won the division, Yatan Bueno, also failed the in-competition test and was stripped of his gold medal as a result. It’s unclear what the IBJJF will choose to do with this year’s ultra-heavyweight division now, as only the bronze medalists Guilherme Augusto and Seif Eddine-Houmine are currently remaining.
