UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub has a history of accusing Brazilian fighters of PED use, based on a proprietary smell test.
In August on his popular Fighter and The Kid podcast he made a broad accusation about Brazilian fighters.
“Demian Maia looked good, but…since this, uh…I might take some heat for this, but whatever,” he began, as transcribed by Tim Burke for BE. “Since this drug testing, anyone notice the ol’ Brazilians ain’t doing too well? Ever notice the people, the ol’ South America ain’t doing too hot since this drug testing thing?”
“If there are disciplines of MMA for Brazilians, it’s (counts on his fingers) Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu, steroids, boxing. I’m just saying. It’s weird. It’s weird.”
“And this is why I’m taking Conor McGregor over Aldo. For this exact reason.”
Aldo’s coach, the great Andre Pederneiras, strongly protested in a letter to Combate.
“Before talking a bunch of crap, I think Mr. Schaub should get informed about the facts,” said Pederneiras, as translated by Anton Tabuena for BE. “When the new doping policy was announced to me by UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby, I asked him if the UFC could do it for Aldo’s fight (at UFC 189), with daily tests on Aldo and McGregor. I made this same request to Mr. Jeff Novitzky, responsible for UFC’s antidoping, that fighters were tested at least three times a week. And when I met Dana White the last time, I made this same request. So I ask the UFC, Dana and Lorenzo Fertitta again: test Aldo and McGregor at least three times a week, for three months before the fight, and I will pay for the costs, as I promised them every time I asked them to do this.”
“Accusing my fighters of doing steroids is, at least, jealousy for their results — results we never saw and will never see in your career, Mr. Schaub. Don’t try to throw dirt in clean person’s careers, people that worked hard throughout their entire lives. We have no fault for your failure as a fighter and athlete. I ask you to get back to your insignificance in this sport. Clean your mouth before mentioning a Brazilian or an athlete from my team, because the name of my country and my fighters can’t be said by mediocre people like you.”
Now it has happened again.
Schaub appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience, and repeated the accusation.
“you’re bats— crazy if you don’t think Jose Aldo’s body looked different,” said Schaub, as transcribed by Mark Begrmann for BE. “You’re bats— crazy if you think he’s gonna fight the same. … His camp, I think, is 1-7, 0-8 since this drug testing came out. So you’re talking about a different fighter man.”
Rogan offered some much for circumspect remarks before UFC 194. These were leaked, and not intended by Rogan for public airing.
“He looks way different,” said Rogan. “But it could be that he’s done a lot of cardio. Don’t want to jump to conclusions.”
Once again, Pederneiras responded to Schaub’s remarks.
André Pederneiras @dedepederneiras
Para o palhaço que acha que o Aldo tomava alguma coisa e deixou de tomar, tire suas conclusões , 4 últimas lutas !
(To the clown that thinks Aldo was on something and isn’t anymore, draw your own conclusions – translation via Guilherme Cruz)
Rogan offered an apology for his leaked remarks.
There was an audio “leak” from inside the UFC production truck right before Saturday night’s fight where I said that Jose Aldo’s body looked smooth and deflated, and that I didn’t want to jump to any conclusions and that it could have just been from doing a lot of cardio. I also said he looked nervous. Needless to say this caused a lot of controversy.
Since then people have posted photos of Aldo recently as well as from this fight, and he looked very similar.
So for that, I stand corrected. My apologies for being wrong to Aldo and his trainer Andre Pederneiras. I have nothing but admiration and respect for both of them.
This wasn’t supposed to be a public conversation, I was just talking to my friend the producer in the truck privately.
As you can see from this photo from earlier in his career his body looked different from how he looked Saturday night. There are several possible reasons for that, one of them being that the 1st photo is him moving, and another that he had endurance problems in the later rounds of his fights and might have leaned out.
Another thing some were upset with was that I didn’t want an immediate rematch, and that I thought Conor should fight Frankie Edgar. My reasons for this are that I think Frankie stylistically is a great match up for Conor. I also think that when someone suffers a brutal knockout they should take a lot of time off to recover. I’m not a promoter, and I don’t get to decide who fights who or when, and for that I’m grateful. What I am though, is someone who respects and cares very deeply for fighters and their health. Too many times I’ve seen fighters come back too soon from being KO’ed and watch them not be able to absorb punishment anymore.
Aldo is on my short list of all time favorite fighters, along with Wanderlei Silva, Anderson Silva, GSP, Mighty Mouse, and Fedor.
I would love to see Aldo back motivated for revenge and gunning to regain his title. First though, I’d like to see him rest and recover.Again, my apologies to Jose Aldo and Andre Pederneiras and anyone else I offended with my opinions.
Rogan is right. Aldo looks somewhat different, and there are a number of explanations, most of them reasonable.
Schaub over reached, grossly. It may get his show a lot of eyeballs, but that does not make it responsible.
