Sara McMann has sounded off on fighters using illegal substances in MMA.
Sara McMann has been a crucial part of the UFC bantamweight division since 2013. She is a talented fighter and former Olympic wrestler. She earned herself a title fight back in 2014 and has been working to earn another at 41 years old.
McMann, having experience in both MMA and wrestling, has a unique point of view on a particular subject within the world of combat sports: performance-enhancing drug usage.
McMann has fought some of the best the UFC bantamweight division has to offer. She came up in the division around the time the USADA was introduced as the UFC’s drug testing partner. In the time since the USADA has been involved, many fighters have tested positive and been suspended, fined, or both. McMann, however, does not believe that all cheaters are being caught.
“I can tell you, unequivocally there are people cheating, and I’ve actually fought opponents, sometimes it’s people I beat, and sometimes it’s people that I haven’t and I’ve had some of their teammates message me personally, I won’t say who but like, Hey, I don’t know if this helps or not but they definitely are doing PEDs and like it’s, it kind of breaks my heart,” McMann said in an interview with THE HANNIBAL TV.
Drug usage in the UFC has been a hot-button issue for many years. Perhaps two of the biggest cases of USADA failure are Jon Jones and TJ Dillashaw.
Dillashaw tested positive for a banned substance and was suspended for two years. Dillashaw admitted that he did in fact take this substance and accepted his punishment. Jones tested positive on multiple occasions and to this day maintains his innocence. This sort of behavior will never sit well with McMann.
“Morally, I don’t think it’s okay. I don’t,” she said. “I don’t want to know or be friends with or support anybody who cheats. Yeah. But even more than that, people have died in MMA, you know, or brain damage or alter their life and you say, ‘Yeah, we signed a waiver, but we kind of signed the waiver expecting somebody to be on an even playing ground.
“I mean, they should start a cheater league and then they can go and just bash each other’s brains. Like, for me, I had to mentally kind of get past it. Because I had a lot of bitterness.
“I had a lot of bitterness and anger towards people who are doing that and I’m like, you know if it gets to a certain point, I really feel like a lot of my opponents are cheating or doing PEDs. I’ll just retire.”
McMann won her last outing against Karol Rosa back in March following a loss to the new champion Julianna Peña. McMann is looking to get another chance at Peña but first will face Aspen Ladd on August 13.
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