No matter the sport, elite athletes, especially champions will fall victim to steroid accusations at one point or the other in their careers. Whether they have taken them or not, it does put a blemish on the achievements they’ve attained so far. Speaking about PEDs (Performance Enhancing Drugs) in the MMA world, one such name that comes to mind is Chael Sonnen. The only difference, he actually admitted to having taken them.
The former middleweight title challenger recently appeared on ‘Flagrant 2’, a controversial-yet-popular podcast hosted by American comedian Andrew Schulz and his 3-member crew. Chael isn’t one to make his way to several different podcasts, so fans were a bit speculative about his appearance on the show. So far, he has been a regular on Ariel Helwani‘s ‘The MMA Hour Show’, apart from having his own YouTube channel.
During a particular segment on the show, Shulz and crew found Chael reminiscing his time about fighting Jon Jones for the light heavyweight belt and Jones being on steroids. He then branches off to put the Los Angeles Lakers player on blast.
He says, “If the world understood what LeBron did, like other basketball players will hear what LeBron does and go ‘yeah but that doesn’t matter. It’s like a baseball player, you’re hitting the stick out of the way, it doesn’t matter.”
The 45-year-old further explained, “If you knew what these Performance Enhancers did, then you’d know why it does matter. We [himself and LeBron] have the same drug guy, I know exactly what he’s doing.” insinuating he knows the exact drug/s the NBA megastar is taking.
Upon this, one of the co-hosts, Akash insists, “Please tell”, to which Sonnen immediately responds with “I’m not going to.”
The West Linn born also mentioned Tiger Woods. Chael claimed that the 47-year-old golfer is allegedly taking “the big three”. He went on to name them EPO, HGH (Human Growth Hormone), and Testosterone. Sonnen then finished it off with, “EPO matters, it’s the reason LeBron takes it, it matters.”
Chael Sonnen and his history with PEDs
It is worth noting that during his time as a fighter with the UFC, ‘The Bad Guy’ himself was caught with multiple banned substances in his system. So, if the fans are double-checking any merit behind them, they could correspond the aforementioned claims with his own PED abuse from the past.
In 2014, Sonnen failed random drug tests on two different occasions. It included HGH, EPO, anastrozole, and clomiphene. After the first failed results came back, he retired from MMA for a short period of time. After the second failed batch arrived, the ‘West Linn gangster’ was fired from his position with Fox Sports and was shown the door from the UFC.
“I am guilty. I am ashamed, I don’t have any attempt to put up a defense,” said Chael, who didn’t have many words to share during the commission meeting. The Oregon resident went on to receive a 2-year suspension along with no fine to pay.
Do you think LeBron James’ historic performances have anything to do with steroids? or is this just Chael being Chael? Let us know in the comments down below.
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