UFC champions who remain dominant for long periods of time or exhibit otherworldly conditioning can only spend so long at the top before the Doubting Thomases start hurling accusations of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).
Like recombinant human erythropoietin (EPO).
Former UFC welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman, spend the second half of his title reign dodging rumors of EPO use (mostly from this rival). The effects of EPO are so beneficial, even UFC color commentator, Joe Rogan, “almost wants to try it.”
Not surprisingly, the PED topic finds its footing on social media whenever fans on social media discuss the “endless gas tank” of reigning UFC bantamweight champion, Merab Dvalishvili, fresh off his UFC 311 title defense over Umar Nurmagomedov.
“His conditioning is just … unreal,” famed combat sports coach, Firas Zahabi, said on YouTube. “I’ve seen guys get caught on drugs and EPO who didn’t have cardio like him. I’m not saying he’s on EPO, I’m just saying like, even if you are on EPO, you just don’t have that level of cardio. Like there’s only one other guy I’ve ever seen with cardio like that and I will tell you, it’s Mayweather. When he sits on the stool, he doesn’t even breathe, and I’m not saying any of these guys are doping. I don’t think Mayweather dopes at all or Merab is doping, I’m just saying it’s genetic.”
EPO is what tarnished the legacy of former bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw.
“You can go and do their workout, you can go and try to copy them — it’s useless,” Zahabi continued. “It’s totally useless. It’s gotta be genetic. It can’t be, ‘this guy is doing a secret formula.’ That would really blow my mind. That would really shock me. No, it’s genetic. Just how the length of your arm is genetic. You have a limit. The size of your arteries, how big they are, your VO2 max. You have a genetic ceiling. You have a genetic potential. His potential is great and it’s accentuated by training, made himself even better cardio because he’s training. You’re not going to get that level of cardio by following his routine.”
Dvalishvili, 34, captured his twelfth straight win by beating Nurmagomedov and could go down as one of the division’s all-time greats, having also defeated the likes of former champions Sean O’Malley, Henry Cejudo, and Jose Aldo, just to name a few.