Sean Strickland has accused Israel Adesanya of steroid use during his time with the UFC.
This wouldn’t be the first time a claim like this has been made against Adesanya, after Paulo Costa expressed the same opinion when the champion was suffering from swelling on his right pectoral muscle prior to their matchup. Costa claimed this was because Adesanya was coming off a cycle of steroids however it would go no further then just an accusation that ‘Stylebender’ explained away.
Strickland has really started to make his way into the middleweight division, the American is currently riding on the back of a five-fight winning streak and will be looking to make it six when he faces of against Jack Hermanson early in 2022.
Sean Strickland Has High Hopes For The Year Ahead
If he can past this next test, Sean Strickland plans to work his way through the division before ultimately reaching the champion, Israel Adesanya.
“At least a title shot (by the end of the year),” Strickland told MMA Junkie.
“I’m one of the hardest training fighters in the UFC and I’ll do everything I can to get to a title shot, and if it happens, let’s f*cking go, Izzy. I’m f*cking ready. Make sure to cycle off, though. I don’t want to f*cking bring you a bra if you don’t hit the right cycle.”
“Izzy’s a great fighter – he comes from kickboxing – have you ever seen a fighter with gyno for any other reason than that?” Strickland said. “Besides him, have you ever seen a fighter in the UFC that smokes weed that gets gyno? Ever? You can’t because it doesn’t f*cking happen unless you cycle wrong. That’s a fact. We all know it. But regardless of the fact, Izzy’s a f*cking great fighter. We know that. That’s the fight I want.”
“Izzy, I’ll come over dude. We can f*cking watch anime and you can put some f*cking testosterone in my ass. I’ll do it with you. Let’s f*cking go. With a needle I think you guys do the stomach, right? Is that where you guys do, the stomach? You’re the expert on f*cking steroids. How’s it done?”
Given the pre-fight medicals and other testing fighters have to do, do you believe many fighters are still using steroids?