RealGM

That sucks. I was hoping he used dog urine or something. There's no meme potential in a masker.

This is yet another reason (excuse) of using an illegal substance due to injury. Something needs to be done to curb the desire to use due to injury. There needs to be full disclosure and some sort of monetary compensation for doing so. Once that is established, harsher and more strict punishment can be handed down to those who still violate the policy.

You know what, I can somewhat understand using a dierectic to make weight or whatever... but common, but outside of that which is very shady, I don't think there is anything else that is even defensible.

In baseball, if you use performance enhancing substances,... you make more homeruns, more strike outs, or have a longer career. In combat sports... there is already an element that you could very well kill someone... so yeah... Unacceptable.

Absolutely, BR.

Dude has the nerve to sit there and taunt Vera as he's kicking his ***? Knowing he was on PEDs the whole time? Between this, taunting of knocked out opponents (Jardine), and always being such a little ***** about being KTFO by Machida...I'm just not a fan of Thiago Silva.

REDDzone wrote:Absolutely, BR.

Dude has the nerve to sit there and taunt Vera as he's kicking his ***? Knowing he was on PEDs the whole time? Between this, taunting of knocked out opponents (Jardine), and always being such a little ***** about being KTFO by Machida...I'm just not a fan of Thiago Silva.

Which is why I was excited about him fighting Rampage. He needs to put in his place (again).

I'm not a fan of Silva's personality either (read on Sherdog that he often mean mugs fans trying to get a signature or picture), but using PEDs doesn't make or break how I feel about a fighter's career. If you assume that most athletes are on PEDs (or gaining a competitive advantage that may not be available to everyone... For example, few fighters can afford the type of training GSP has), you sleep better at night. There are many fighters who cycle PEDs that don't get caught. There has to be, right? He's a grown up. He can do whatever he wants as long as he's mindful of the consequences of getting caught.

Yeah, it used to bother me for the reason Rasho mentions. But steroids are not going to be the difference between a "good sporting fight ol' chap" and manslaughter.

Loaded hand wraps, that's unacceptable in a fight sport. That's heinous. But steroids...meh, not on a moral level.

I think athletes should be punished severely for using them in the lead-up to a competition. But maybe there should be some allowances for using them to recover from an injury during a lay-off.

SDM wrote:I'm not a fan of Silva's personality either (read on Sherdog that he often mean mugs fans trying to get a signature or picture), but using PEDs doesn't make or break how I feel about a fighter's career.

Well speaking for myself I gave several reasons why I dislike the dude.

REDDzone wrote:

SDM wrote:I'm not a fan of Silva's personality either (read on Sherdog that he often mean mugs fans trying to get a signature or picture), but using PEDs doesn't make or break how I feel about a fighter's career.

Well speaking for myself I gave several reasons why I dislike the dude.

Oh, I hate his post-fight posturing too, especially against Jardine, who is the farthest thing from an a-hole in the sport. Can't stand the guy. Great fighter though, roids and all.

This could well be one of those situations where the UFC's lowish pay scale is causing the issue here. The guy had not fought in over a year. You have to wonder what his financial situation is and whether that came into play with him being so opposed to pulling out of the fight injured.

Either way he was in the wrong and should be punished.

I think the thing that bothers me in this whole thing is he claims he did it for an injury, fine.

But I honestly kind of question that. He looked much bigger at 125 IMO than he did in earlier bouts. I know he fought at 102, when was his Rashad fight? 108 or 109, whichever.

Point being, I remember making a comment to my brother about how huge he looked. And IIRC even Rogan was saying something along the lines of "Thiago looks big, as big as a fighter can get without being a HW" or something similar.

Is it possible, and I am asking the question in ignorance, that he did use it for an injury, and the added size was a "byproduct" of the usage?

Shaazzam wrote:Is it possible, and I am asking the question in ignorance, that he did use it for an injury, and the added size was a "byproduct" of the usage?

Good question, I wonder if CBR would chime in on this?

I question the excuse for injury all together. We don't really hear the specifics of most of these injuries, or if and how steroids (which ever particular kind) would actually help. It could be a case of uneducated self medicating, or an excuse for when they get caught.

Steroid abuse is common in MMA. We like to pretend that when a fighter gets caught, it's because they just started, out of some sort of panic or lapse in judgement, but the actuality is many of these guys are cycling and just f'ed up. Eliminating the excuse of injury through some sort of "workman's comp" type deal would allow the athletic commissions and the UFC to hand down more strict consequences for violators.

He would gain a bunch of overall advantages in training if he took a synthetic testosterone, even for an injury. He says he injected whatever the banned substance was "into his back and spine". I don't know what that means for its 'bio-availability'. You usually want to spike testosterone directly into a large muscle (like, your glutes). It might not be as much of an advantage if it weren't injected into a large muscle group. IDK exactly.

Putting on muscle mass, you need a particular rep range. I doubt much of his strength training would involve that. He would be doing really low reps for strength and really high reps for endurance. If he doesn't hit that mid-range of 8-15, he might not put on much mass. But his lifting for strength would get a huge bump.

The advantages are in strength, recovery and performance. It's guaranteed to happen if he's taking testosterone. He would add 10s of pounds onto every lift, he'd be able to train more often without cardio interfering with his strength training, he'd be able to train harder & longer and he would just be so much more aggressive. If anyone's ever taken Tribulus or BattleFuel or any of those natural test boosters, you feel like an unholy force. Synthetics? Even at a weak dose, they're actually uncomfortable you get so aggressive.

If he's getting a portion of those advantages, it's unfair.

I still like him.

I wanted to see him and Jackson bad and I was rooting for Silva.

This steroid thing will certainly be a major hindrance in the future growth of the sport.

Hey, at least his legal advisor knew to have him come out and admit it right off the bat, instead of lying and dragging his name through the mud even more.