Werdum: USADA offered me an opportunity to snitch in exchange for a redu…

Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum was suspended for two years by USADA after testing positive for the steroid trenbolone and its metabolite epitrenbolone in an out-of-competition test. Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones was recently suspended for 15 months after his second PED test failure. The crucial difference between the pair is that Jones provided USADA with “substantial assistance a term for providing information on another person or person involved in doping.

During an interview with Brazil’s Combate, Werdum said he declined a similar offer.

What surprised me the most was at the end of the interview, it was something that I found absurd, said Werdum, as translated by Matt Erickson and Fernanda Prates for MMAjunkie. They said, ‘Werdum, here’s the thing: If you tell on someone …’ It was what you could call plea bargain. ‘Werdum, if you tell on someone’ – using the slang, if you’re a snitch – ‘we’ll shorten your suspension. Because you’re going to have to pay something. Even if we find the substance in any of the products we test, even if we find it, you’ll have to pay something.’

… For the guy to make me an offer like that, to snitch on someone, that goes against my principles. I can’t tell on someone. Even if I knew, I wouldn’t do it. How am I going to snitch on someone to make it better for me, to lower my suspension or whatever?

I felt like a criminal, actually. I know I didn’t do anything, but it felt like I was a criminal, like [they were] the police. Two USADA guys, a detective analyzing me all the time. Both were USADA. I felt so bad, you know? Like, I didn’t do anything. Why am I doing this? And it lasted five hours.

There even came a point when they were like, ‘Werdum, let’s rest a little. Do you want to rest?’ I said, ‘No, I don’t want to rest. I want to answer whatever you ask – I have nothing to hide.’

I’m not going to name names, but I saw that recently a guy who was supposed to have caught four years ended up catching 15 months. And I caught 24 months. How come? If it was his second or third offense? Is it two weights and two measures? How does that work? It’s very strange, really.

I want to keep fighting. I’m training every day – of course, I’m not training with the same intensity of when I have a fight. … I’ve thought of fighting in a different country. I’m going to see what I’ll do now. It’s hard now – it’s all very recent. I still have to talk to the UFC. I’m still working on TV as a commentator. There are many things happening and I need to take a moment to really think, because sometimes I’ll say something, and I’ll regret it later.

… I’ll have to see what I’ll do. I have two more fights in the UFC. How long will I have to wait? Will I have to wait out these two years? Will I be able to fight in another country? What will I do? I don’t know yet. I’m still indecisive. I still have a lot of thinking to do.