Morning Report: Given the climate, Brendan Schaub says ‘there’s just no reason everyone shouldn’t take steroids’ in the UFC

“Nice guys finish last.”

UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub took the ‘steroids in MMA’ discussion in a different direction this week on his podcast. Rather than contend with the ’80 percent’ of fighters using PEDs, Schaub questioned why it shouldn’t be 100.

“Listen, I would love to hear an argument for why I shouldn’t do steroids,” Schaub said. “Give me one. Let’s say I take steroids and test positive. Say I’m a young kid [getting to the UFC] and I ask my dad, ‘Dad, why shouldn’t I take steroids?’ Can I say, ‘Well, you’ll never be world champ.’ That’s not true. Anderson Silva’s world champ. ‘Well, you’ll never fight for a title.’ That’s not true.

“Chael Sonnen tested positive, fought for a title. ‘Well, you’ll never be ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ coach.’ Nope, Chael Sonnen, Anderson Silva. ‘Well, you’ll never be a main event.’ No, not true. Alistair Overeem’s a main event. Bigfoot Silva’s a main event. ‘Well, listen, you might get fired.’ No, not really. Guys pop all the time. If it’s cheating, everyone else is doing it and they’re getting rewarded for it.”

Given the current parameters of the sport’s disciplinary process, Schaub believes the system does little to disincentive athletes from cheating.

“You know what’s infuriating to me? It’s not that I’m not champ,” said Schaub. “It’s not that I’ve lost some fights or won some big fights. It’s more that there’s just no reason everyone shouldn’t take steroids. There’s just not. In the UFC there’s no reason. Someone give me a legit reason why you would tell a young fighter not to take them. I would love to hear a good argument. ‘Well, you’ll get fined $3000 and you’ll have to sit out six months, maybe nine.’ I fight every six months anyway.”

Schaub explained that the climate directly affects not only his gameplan, but can also damage his brand by how he’s forced to protect himself inside the Octagon.

“I fought a guy named Lavar Johnson. At the weigh-in when he weighed in I went to [UFC president] Dana White like, ‘That guy’s on roids.” They laughed. Everyone’s like, ‘Come on.’ Are you kidding me? The guy is jacked. He could go win Mr. Olympia. My team’s laughing. I’m not laughing. I’ve got to fight him.

“So then I fight this guy. I don’t stand with him. I take him down over and over. I just kept taking him down because I knew he was jacked on steroids. I’m not going to play that game. I took a lot of heat for that. Everyone from the company, outside the company, fans, everyone. ‘Why didn’t you stand and bang with him?’ Well, I’m all natural and this guy’s jacked out of his mind on steroids. It doesn’t make sense for me. Make it a level playing field and I’m the Leonard Garcia of the heavyweight division.”

Following the unanimous decision loss to Schaub at UFC 157, Johnson failed his post-fight drug screening due to an elevated testestosterone-to-epitestosterone (T/E) ratio and was suspended nine months by the California State Athletic Commission. Johnson later explained to the commission that he had failed to disclose he was undergoing testosterone replacement therapy.

Admitting he doesn’t mind seeing athletes in other sports, or even Hollywood actors, ‘roided up,’ Schaub can’t help but think about the problems fighters may face in the future.

“Anderson Silva landed some shots on Nick Diaz,” said Schaub. “Those shots, I promise you, are going to catch up with Nick down the road. Now, we don’t know how severe those shots were but I guarantee it’s more severe when a guy’s on steroids.”

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