Dede: MMA without PEDs won’t be as spectacular
Andre Pederneiras: “I’m against it, but everybody knows that if a guy is not under the effect of any substances, he will not perform as well.”
Nova Uniao founder Andre Pederneiras is one of the greatest coaches in the sport, and a spectacular human being. The coach has opened his doors for a generation to both impoverished youth, and to Americans, something that was not done previously. Students include Jose Aldo, Renan Barao, Junior dos Santos, BJ Penn, John Lewis, Pedro Rizzo, and Vitor Ribeiro, among countless other big names in the game.
Dede recently spoke to Brazil’s Portal do Vale Tudo about the enhanced PED testing and stricter penalties that are coming to the sport. The coach is for the enhanced testing, but also offers a bluntly realistic look at one of the consequences – the fighters will not be as good. And he asks a fundamental question – does the UFC want to be a sport or does it want to be show business?
“If the UFC wants the best show and the guy is juiced, you will have the best show of your life,” said Pederneiras as translated by Lucas Rezende for BE. “If it is a sport and everyone is clean, maybe people won’t be jumping out of their seats and cheering. I’m not saying it’s right to do it, I’m against it, but everybody knows that if a guy is not under the effect of any substances, he will not perform as well as an athlete who is. It’s a very tricky moment to figure out what path to take”.
“Guys who use it don’t say they do. Sometimes I watch interviews and there’s some guys bashing steroids and I know they take them. It’s complicated. If you’re in this game and going down that path, you know you’re taking a chance. Sometimes a guy is injured and even doctors tell them to take something in order to heal faster and then that guy is randomly tested and gets caught. So we need to consider all of that before we crucify someone.”
The UFC has at any number of critical junctures chosen sport over spectacle, and they have made the same right choice here. Mixed martial arts is better for it. The fighters in aggregate will not be as good, and that is okay, as it better to be all too human and clean, than a bright shining lie.
