Kimbo argues for PED use
Kimbo Slice: “I don’t think the commissioners should really blackball fighters from having to use a little extra vitamins to perform. Because we’re entertainers.”
MMA heavyweight and personality Kimbo Slice recently sat down with Germany’s GNP1.de for a wide-ranging interview. His last fight, a win over Dada 5000 at Bellator 149, ended with Dada hospitalized for a week with renal failure, and reportedly suffering a heart attack. Slice looked near hospitalization for exhaustion himself.
‘You’re never pleased with your performance. You know what I mean?” said Slice, as transcribed by Jed Meshew. “You feel like you could do it better. That’s the competitive part. Some people have it some people don’t. I just want to embrace mine and become a little bit better. Become more of an inspiration.”
Slice failed a PED test following the fight, and faces a one-year suspension. Slice offered a dismissive excuse for the test for Nandralone, which Ken Shamrock also tested positive for, and then made the case for steroids being legal for older fighters.
“Maybe the [person performing the test] used the same glove from Ken’s shit and touched my shit,” said Slice. “I don’t know.”
“We’re fighters man, we’re a little bit older than normal, we’re on a professional level of entertainment. You gotta look at athletes, like really professional athletes, and officers, and fire fighters, who really put their bodies and themselves through what’s not the norm… I don’t think the commissioners should really blackball fighters from having to use a little extra vitamins to perform. Because we’re entertainers. We are performing on a high level. We’re putting our body through some strenuous workout to entertain the public and the media.”
Wanderlei Silva, who is currently under a three year suspension, after he literally ran from a PED test, recently expressed interest in a fight with Slice.
“I like Wanderlei, I think he’ll give me a good fight,” said Slice. “He’s gonna want a knockout like I’m gonna want a knockout. Dude, I don’t mind getting knocked out by Wanderlei, but I don’t mind knocking your ass out either, believe that! So it’s gonna be like a good fight. So if he wants some, come get it.”
“I mean, if it makes dollars, it makes sense.”
With both Slice and Silva suspended for PEDs, no commission in North America will allow them to fight. However, MMA overseas is unregulated, so in theory, the pair could fight overseas.
This could however be problematic, on at least two fronts. One, the commission is highly unlikely to do nothing if either or both fighters continue their career beyond the reach of regulators, and is likely to add time to the suspension. Further, it is not clear that Bellator would conspire with the fighters to avoid the objectives of regulators.