Rothwell: 80% of heavyweights were on PEDs before USADA

UFC heavyweight Ben Rothwell spoke with ESPN recently, ahead of his fight with Josh Barnett at UFC on Fox 18? in Newark on Saturday. Among other subjects, Rothwell talked about the role of PEDs in the heavyweight division.

“Before USADA, I would say 80 percent or more heavyweights were on performance-enhancing drugs,” said Rothwell to Brett Okamoto. “Let’s just look at the facts. Bigger athletes don’t like to train the way we do. This sport is exhausting. Big guys come and go all the time because they hate the hard work. The ones who survive seem to think they need steroids and PEDs to cope with the training.

“And let’s face it, being a big guy and ripped just doesn’t happen naturally. Everybody wants that ripped look. For a guy to weigh 265 pounds and get that look everyone wants to see in a professional fighter, he needs help. I think that’s another big reason PED use is high at heavyweight. All divisions have it, but it has been bad at heavyweight.”

“These guys are changing. They’re not the same. You see the Alistair and Junior dos Santos fight, even when they get on the scale, the way they fought — there are a lot of changes. Travis Browne just struggled to beat a guy [Matt Mitrione] I trashed in two minutes. There are a lot of changes going on right now in this division and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Rothwell himself was suspended for nine months, when he was flagged for elevated testosterone levels at a fight with Brandon Vera in 2013. He had been approved for Testosterone Replacement Therapy. Rothwell said his physician linked his low testosterone levels to a terrible car accident years previously. TRT in MMA ended in 2014, and Rothwell for one transitioned out smoothly. He knocked out Alistair Overeem in a Performance of the Night, and then the purple belt choked Matt Mitrione, pushing his streak to three.