Set to return to UFC action on July 14, former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos is speaking out about his experience with USADA.
JDS, was suspended by the organization after failing a drug test for a diuretic, and now there’s a breach of trust.
Here’s what he told MMAJunkie.com:
“I remember I made a comment like, ‘Was it, really? Because if he hadn’t taken anything, he wouldn’t have been caught.’”
“I have no words to describe it because it was a very sad situation. Being accused of something that I always defended, which was USADA’s presence, making this a clean sport. And suddenly to have people labelling me a liar? That was heavy. That was very heavy for me.”
“In my mind, I was thinking it’s not right. Something wrong is going on here and probably [USADA] will find out the truth very fast and they will release me from this cage, from this situation. That didn’t happen. They started to investigate and investigate.
I’ve been supporting USADA all the time, I’ve been playing the fair game the whole time. The only organization in this whole world that could tell everybody else that I was saying the truth was USADA, but they were doing the opposite.”
“I thought, with USADA’s experience and their understanding, that they would be able to say what was a contamination and what wasn’t. Not just because of the substance, but the amount, as well. But that’s not how it happened.”
“I know I’m in a sport that has suffered, and still suffers, with guys who try to find shortcuts to win,”
“My hope now is that USADA does more studies on this. It can’t be that with all their capabilities, all the experience they have, they can’t tell who was victim of contamination and who wasn’t. I know it isn’t that simple, but I hope they find a way.”
“I think in situations like these, they shouldn’t take the fighters off fights. They should keep the fighter in the fight, and in case culpability was proven, then they could penalize them in an even harsher way. I know it sounds scary, but what’s happening is that we’re getting punished before we’re even judged.”
“We need to discuss this more. We need to bring this subject to light so it doesn’t happen anymore. Because fighting is our life. It’s all that we do. Imagine, for instance, a case in which the person can’t defend themselves and get a longer suspension.
“This is an entire life on hold. This can’t happen. This is a very serious subject, so it’s important that we discuss it more and more.”
