Weidman: Failed PED tests definitely tarnish Silva’s legacy
Chris Weidman: “You fail a drug test, your whole career is in question, in my opinion. And he failed them now twice.”
Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva is the UFC G.O.A.T. And he has a troubled history with Performance Enhancing Drug use.
In 2015 Silva failed tests administered around his fight with Nick Diaz. In the first failure, he tested for the anabolic steroids Drostanolone and Androstane. In the second he tested positive for the Benzodiazepines Oxazepam and Temazepam, which are used to treat anxiety and insomnia, respectively, and Drostanolone. Oxazepam and Temazepam were not on WADA’s prohibited drug list; Silva was cited for them as he did not disclose them on the pre-fight medical questionnaire. Silva eventually argued that the failure was in part due to a tainted sexual enhancement drug he took in Thailand. This was pre-USADA and the more lax Nevada Athletic Commission suspended him for a year.
Silva failed again prior to last November’s UFC Fight Night 122. Combate reports that the test failure was for the synthetic testosterone Methyltestosterone, and an unspecified diuretic.
Former middleweight champion Chris Weidman, who twice defeated Silva, said the G.O.A.T.’s legacy is tarnished. And ‘The Spider’ is just one more name on the list of Weidman opponents that have failed a test to some degree. Others include Vitor Belfort, Yoel Romero, Lyoto Machida, and Tom Lawlor.
Yeah, it definitely tarnishes his legacy, said Weidman as transcribed by Marc Raimondi for MMA Fighting. You fail a drug test, your whole career is in question, in my opinion. And he failed them now twice. So definitely it tarnishes his legacy. I don’t know what else to say about that. It’s just another one bites the dust. It’s one after another. Literally, almost every guy I ever fought at this point has failed a drug test.
I’m not really that surprised. After the first one and now this one. He’s older now. I don’t know. I’m not super surprised. In Brazil, I know the steroids are very easy to get. A lot of guys were probably on them a long time. I’m not super surprised. The reality is that it definitely tarnishes his legacy.
