Coming back from a six-month suspension for banned substances, ‘King’ Bobby Green claims that Russia’s rampant use of performance-enhancing drugs has led to their dominance inside the cage in recent years.
On Saturday night, Green will make his first walk to the Octagon since losing a short-notice main event against current lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in February. Green was previously scheduled to return in July, but was pulled from the event after a May 16th urine test showed a positive result for dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), a banned substance found in over-the-counter dietary supplements. Given the easily attainable nature of the substance, Green’s two-year suspension was reduced to six months dating back to the original testing date meaning ‘King’ was eligible to return as of November 16th.
Ahead of his highly-anticipated return against Drew Dober at The APEX in Las Vegas, Bobby Green sat down in front of reporters at the UFC Fight Night media event on Wednesday, sharing his thoughts on 155-pound titleholder Islam Makhachev and Russian athletes in general.
“I was f*cking round on my YouTube, right, and I found this little video and it said Islam had a little trouble with drugs. I don’t see people talking about him? So, he was saying when he first came over that his school that he trained at in Russia, they just gave him vitamins. They been doing it since who knows when, when you start training.
“Imagine if you gave someone steroids from the age of 10, 12, 13, 14, 15; how strong you would be… He was really strong, it makes sense now… I move with thousands of guys, that was interesting,” Green added. “I told my coach, ‘There was something interesting about Islam. I felt it. It’s just not human.’ (Now), it makes sense.”
Bobby Green sounds off on Islam Makhachev.
"Imagine if you gave someone steroids from the age of 10?"#UFCVegas66 | Full video: https://t.co/x4dYPrIfxn pic.twitter.com/1VtbGcJUay
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) December 15, 2022
Bobby Green Suggests America is Too ‘P*ssified’ to Allow Its Fighters to Take Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Competition
In 2019, the world anti-doping agency levied a four-year ban on Russia’s participation in international competition, including the Olympic Games in Tokyo after a yearslong scheme to provide high-level athletes with performance-enhancing drugs and manipulate test results. While Russia certainly has a history, Bobby Green’s generalization of all Russian athletes may take things a bit too far, particularly when all athletes under the UFC banner are subject to regular testing both in and out of competition by the United States Anti-Doping Agency aka USADA.
“If I could do drugs — ’cause our countries are different. Russia’s been banned from the Olympics. Their country’s a little more okay with the drug use,” Green stated. “We’re on the strenuous drug stuff over here. They’re a little bit different. They’re behind their fighter. They want them to be stronger, they want them to be more manly. Over here, we don’t.
“Imagine if I could do that. I would kill everybody. So now it makes sense to me. I wondered why those Dagestanis were winning so much. They been bred to do this. That’s why they can train a nine-year-old against a bear,” Green continued. “They’ve been bred to be better than us, I’m sorry. So, they’re gonna win. It’s just what it is. We’re a little too p*ssified over here.” (H/T MMA News)