Steve Carl: ‘Good possibility’ Palhares on PEDs
“He’s known about this fight for a while. So I mean, there is a good possibility that he’s on something… I hope he was smart about it and got his levels back down.”
WSOF welterweight champion Steve Carl fights Rousimar Palhares at World Series of Fighting 9, which airs this Saturday night on NBC Sports Network.
Palhares tested positive for PEDs following a fight vs. Hector Lombard at UFC on FOX 6 in 2012. So before “Toquinho” receives his license to fight, he has to pass a drug test that he was summonsed early from Brazil to Las Vegas for.
The test results are expected just one or two days before the fight. However, if Palhares fails it, WSoF has Tyler Stinson standing by.
Carl appeared recently on The MMA Hour, and said he would rather fight Palhares than Stinson, but thinks Rousimar could well be taking PEDs still.
“He’s known about this fight for a while,” said Carl as transcribed by MMAMania. “So I mean, there is a good possibility that he’s on something, because it’s definitely hard to take those types of steroids or supplements and stay a top-level athlete once you get yourself back off them. So, most athletes I think still take it and try to cycle off in time.
“I hope he was smart about it and got his levels back down. There’s a lot of guys in this sport that do illegal things, but the thing is they don’t test for it. We get tested the day of the fight, and a lot of these people are taking the TRTs, and you can cycle off of it a week before and be completely fine going into the fight. I think that’s a huge unfair advantage for guys like me who go in there all natural.”
Main card starts 9 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network for the main card. Prelim card stream online at 5:30 p.m. ET.
Main Card (NBC Sports Network)
Steve Carl (c) vs. RousimarPalhares (WSOF welterweight championship title defense)
Marlon Moraes vs. Josh Rettinghouse (for vacant Vacant WSOF bantamweight title)
YushinOkami vs. SvetlozarSavov
Josh Burkman vs. Tyler Stinson
Ozzy Dugulubgov vs. Johnny Nunez
Prelim Card (Online)
Mike Corey vs. Shane Kruchten
Chris Gruetzemacher vs. John Gunderson
Sean Cantor vs. Bryson Hansen
Phil Dace vs. Danny Davis
Brenson Hansen vs. BoostayreNefarios
Jimmy Jones vs. Rudy Morales
Gil Guardado vs. Jimmy Spicuzza