Faber: Is PED use attempted murder?

There is no indication what so ever that Michael ‘Venom’ Page has ever used Performance Enhancing Drugs, but his skull breaking KO of Evangelista Cyborg at Bellator 158 set Urijah Faber to wondering darkly. Businessman and world-class fighter asked whether under the worst circumstances, PED use could lead to a murder charge.

“It puts things in perspective when you see Cyborg’s head get crushed, his skull get crushed,” said Faber on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, as transcribed by Dave Doyle for MMA Fighting. “The human body, certain individuals have certain abilities. Is there a legal attempted murder if you’re using something like that, if you’re using something potentially using to make yourself a weapon that’s illegal, and you’re going to crush somebody’s skull. It’s a weird thing, and there’s a reason why we have rules in this sport to make sure something like that doesn’t happen.”

“The cheaters are going to find way to cheat over and over again. I’ve never been that guy that prides myself on that, I have a feeling of pride, I’ve never done anything like that and I know that guys, even though they’ve passed drug test and everything else, they don’t have that same pride, some people. I’m not saying any names, but they know who they are.”

“This is a sport to test yourself and to see where they stand up, and it’s like a chick with fake lips, fake boobs, fake hair, fake teeth, fake tan, when she has a kid, the genetics aren’t going to show any of that stuff. It’s one of those things that you look at, where do you really stand up. I have a lot of pride in being a top contender in this sport, a world champion, I have 14 years in this sport, I’m 37, I feel amazing, and never have cheated. Everyone else? It is what it is.”

Again, it must be noted that Faber’s remarks were not an insinuation in any way that Page takes PEDs. They were inspired instead by the severity of the injury, and the understanding that if Page was on PEDs, the injury could have been catastrophically worse.