Anderson Silva is Wrong When it Comes to Steroids

Anderson “The Spider” Silva is a living legend in the sport of mixed martial arts and without question, the greatest fighter this young sport has ever seen. Unlike many of the fighters in the sport today, Silva is a true martial artist who believes in honor and integrity; when Silva has something to say about the sport everyone should listen.

That’s doesn’t mean that everything Silva has to say makes perfect sense though. In a recent interview with MMA Junkie Silva said, “When the guys test for the steroids, (they should have) no more fights. 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.”

While I appreciate where Silva is coming from; especially considering seven of his 15 career UFC opponents have failed drug tests, he misses the mark in my eyes.

I agree with Silva on the belief that steroids and PEDs are bad for the sport. Even though MMA has come a long way over the years, there are many people who see the sport as barbarism still and the sport’s cloud of performance enhancing drugs does not help its image. But simply saying failing a drug test should end a fighter’s career is ludicrous.

Don’t get me wrong—when a fighter fails a test there needs to be a severe punishment doled out—but an instant life time ban is not going to correct the PED problem in MMA. It’s just wrong to alienate a fighter who makes a mistake in judgment. Disciplinary plans need to be progressive because it’s better to educate than it is ostracize.

It’s great that the UFC is going to instate random testing of their fighter pool throughout the year, but even that and the testing the athletic commissions do for events is not enough. There needs to be a clear action plan in place that the UFC and all of the athletic commissions adhere to.

What that plan is exactly—I don’t know—but it can’t be as cut and dry as Silva believes, because PEDs are not cut and dry. There are a lot of variables to consider and there are a lot of questions as to what actually are and are not performance enhancing. That stuff needs to be defined first before we just start banning fighters for life.