It was no secret to me that a lot of athletes in the UFC used PEDs, or did other things to increase performance. I was told after I was no longer allowed to produce for the UFC that the "main reason" I was let go was my "involvement" in the "St-Pierre greasing allegations."
Yes, I WATCHED Georges St-Pierre put grease on his body. In fact, we filmed it. And I only knew what to look for because after Nick Diaz fought Diego Sanchez he came into the locker room screaming, "That MOTHERFUCKER WAS GREASED UP! I COULDN'T HOLD ONTO HIM!"
Watch the fight.
Until that moment, I never heard of being "greased up." It was only later on when I spoke with former UFC fighter Ricco Rodriguez when he said, "We used to soak ourselves in bathtubs filled with Vaseline the day of the fight so it would sink in." That's when I knew what to look for.
I saw other things as well. IVs in guys hotel rooms, needles, hydration tubes, empty blood vials, plus I heard many convos between dirty guys telling clean guys they should "get with the program." On and on and on. You'd be stunned to hear who cheated, just as I was every time I found out. There came a point when I ceased being surprised because so many guys were doing something.
I was no fan of any of it. Former UFC fighter Kenny Florian and I used to talk about how disgusting it was that so many guys cheated. He though it was deplorable, and he wasn't alone. Apparently Mike Bisping agrees.
Except when it comes to Bisping his current act of calling nearly everyone he fights a "cheater" is becoming stale.
Bisping positions himself as one of the clean guys in a world largely filled with cheaters, and I believe he unquestionably is. However, he is choosing to fight these supposed "cheaters", and it seems he does so solely to position himself as the guy who is above it. However, if he loses to them? Well, they're the cheaters!
I'm of the opinion that Anderson Silva took some type of PED either knowingly or naively, but only after his leg snapped in half. It's fair to call him a "cheater", but it seems to me Bisping is trying to paint his career as one fraught with question marks. I don't believe that to be the case, and most others don't as well.
Yet as Bisping tells it, Silva's no different from any fighter that ever cut a corner. They're all the same to him. Speeding is the same as larceny is the same as murder. On some level, I get it, but on another level, I think it's bullshit.
If I ran the UFC, and not only scheduled Bisping to fight for the company, but also employed him as a broadcaster, I would not be very happy if he was consistently bring up the steroid issue every chance he gets. Can you imagine if players in the NFL called out every guy who received a suspension over substance abuse? It would be absurd, and what Bisping does is no different.
Not for a second do I believe Bisping's doing this because he's intent on cleaning up the sport, for he knows it will never be clean (many reasons). He's only acting this way in order to garner more attention for the fight, and make himself more money. But at the expense of the entire sport.
The UFC cannot be happy with their new anti-doping Crusader.
Of course, Silva will do his best to shut Bisping up. Except once that happens Bisping will merely chalk it up to having "lost to a cheater..."
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