Anderson Silva declares his innocence, stating that he’s never taken steroids in his life, blames 2015 legal team for NAC suspension.
Last November, Anderson Silva was flagged by USADA and provisionally suspended for a potential doping violation that stemmed from an out-of-competition sample collected on October 26, 2017. The flag would come not even three years after his 2015 test failures for which he received a fine and a 12-month suspension from the Nevada Athletic Commission following a bizarre hearing where one commissioner called Silva’s defense “hokey.”
Needless to say, he was removed from a November 25 bout against Kelvin Gastelum and Michael Bisping filled in as the late replacement. “The Spider” would release a statement a few days later saying that he still had much to do in the sport and wouldn’t give up.
Apart from that statement, Silva has been largely absent from the media until TMZ caught up with him last week in Beverly Hills, CA. The former middleweight champion vehemently declared his innocence—from all his test failures—and even went so far as to lay the blame of his 2015 suspension at the feet of his legal team.
TMZ: You’re sticking to your word that you’re clean, you never used performance enhancing drugs?
Anderson Silva: No. Nothing. Never in my life, because, first of all, my body never changed. Sometimes, the problem is, you use a different supplement and this happens. I’m very confident in my size because I never used steroids in my life.
TMZ: This is the second time you’ve failed.
Anderson Silva: I know, but the first time, I tried to respond about everything, and my lawyers failed. It’s not my fault.”
TMZ: What if they do suspend you for two years?
Anderson Silva: Uh, I don’t know. I need to wait for USADA’s decision.
Anderson says he should be receiving a response from USADA in the coming weeks and that he is very excited to come back to UFC action.