UFC
Anderson Silva's suggested punishment for fighters failing steroid tests: "No more fights"
Oct 15, 2014 - 4:40:12 PM Anderson Silva's suggested punishment for fighters failing steroid tests: "No more fights"

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Anderson Silva addressed his thoughts on drug cheats in MMA this week, and he believes the punishment for those caught on something should be a severe one.

"When the guys test for the steroids, [they should have] no more fights," Silva said in an interview with MMAJunkie.com. "When you use the steroids, you use them for a long time. When you use the steroids for a long time, you have a problem. It's a drug and it's not good for the sport."

Silva expanded upon those thoughts as well, saying the drug test failures tarnish the sport itself and how it's perceived by fans.

"This is not bad for me, this is bad for the sport," he said. "People around the world love the UFC, but the kids love the UFC, and the families love UFC. It's bad for the sport. I don't think this is good because the sport can change the lives of the kids and the people in the world.

"When the guys test for the steroids, it's bad because this is a problem. It's bad not just for the UFC, but for the sport... [Steroids] make the sport bad. If you do the sport in a good light, you have a good life. That is my opinion."

Penick's Analysis: There's certainly an argument to be made for lengthy bans for those who test positive. Unfortunately, given the nature of testing as it stands, far too many are still getting past drug screens, so it leaves some getting punished extremely harshly while others happen to skirt by. Still, it's clear for clean fighters that they're tired of the ones who are using continuing to get away with it, and want to see more done to stop it.

[Anderson Silva art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]