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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
"They are f***ing everything up. They don't know what they're doing. A guy never tested positive for anything, the (athletic commission) has no jurisdiction whatsoever over him, he hasn't signed a bout agreement, and they ban him. On the other hand, a guy who was caught several times is cleared to fight for the title? I was always clean in my fights and they want to ban me. I don't accept this punishment. This commission has no jurisdiction over me, but they took away my desire to fight... The commission does its own laws. They catch a guy in a drug test and let him fight, but ban others. What the f***? Why is the law different from fighter to fighter? I don't owe this commission anything. I was always clean. It's a bunch of bulls***.
... I don't regret anything I did. I heard some things that the commission did to fighters…it looks like they showed up at the champion's house at 6:50 a.m. to test him. What the f*** is that? Is this a joke? I also heard they forced a famous fighter to undress in front of everybody in order to be tested. What is that? We are being violated. They are taking out our rights as citizens. The test has to be done on the day of the competition. You have to be at the same level of your opponent on fight day. That's against the constitution. You can't have this law. They are not athletes and they don't know what we have to go through to be there and put on a show.
If I'm going to fight you today, I have to be clean today. There are anti-inflammatories and painkillers that are considered doping, but are not. I'm against steroids. Steroids are bad. But the fighter has a right to do anything he wants out of competition. That's his right. You can't get into his life and take his blood to see what he's doing. I'm against all types of drugs and steroids, but the athlete has the right to have a private life. He has to be clean on the day of the competition. Out of competition, that's his life."
-In an interview with Guilherme Cruz at MMAFighting.com, Wanderlei Silva rails against the Nevada Athletic Commission, and argues they have no right to do out of competition.
Penick's Analysis: Anything sensible Silva might want to argue about fighter rights and the treatment of fighters by the UFC gets lost in his just flat-out ridiculous stance on drug testing here. Athletes don't have an inherent right to do anything they want out of competition. Not in fighting, not in any athletic endeavor. The benefits of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs are felt in a training camp, while a fighter prepares for a fight, so that they can be more effective on fight night. That's the idea behind why they're banned, because it is used to enhance their training and recovery to be better on the day of competition. Testing clean on fight night when you've used steroids in camp doesn't make you a clean fighter, and it's a farcical argument for him to make, and it makes any salient points ring hollow when he continues a ridiculous line comments.
[Wanderlei Silva art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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