Thiago Silva admits use of Banned Substances at UFC 125
Posted on March 30, 2011, 05:04 PM by Joey SantosusJust one day after being accused by the California State Athletic Commission of submitting an altered and/or substituted urine specimen for testing prior to his UFC 125 victory over Brandon Vera, Light Heavyweight competitor Thiago Silva has released an open statement admitting his use of banned substances and attempting to cover it up.
The Brazilian was dominant throughout all three rounds of the January 1st match-up, easily controlling Vera as he slapped and taunted him en-route to a lopsided unanimous decision win. It was Vera's third consecutive defeat, and though he was subsequently released from the promotion, he has since been reinstated in light of Silva's post-fight drug test results.
The letter was originally published via the Underground forum:
We make decisions every day of our lives. Some are good and some are bad. When you make abad decision, you can either make the situation worse by trying to cover it up or lie about it or just stick your head in the sand and refuse to acknowledge it even happened or you can own up to it with an honest explanation, accept the consequences of your actions, apologize to the people affected by it, learn from it and move on. I'm choosing the second option.
I used a urine adulterant when giving a sample following my fight with Brandon Vera. I did so in an attempt to alter the results of the test and knowingly broke the rules of the Nevada Athletic Commission. This was a terrible decision on my part for which I will be punished. I am prepared to accept this punishment, learn from it and move on. I apologize to the Commission, the UFC, Brandon Vera and the MMA fans.
I do want to explain the circumstances behind my actions. Please do not interpret this as an attempt to justify my actions. I know they were wrong and I know I made bad decisions and I know I deserve to be punished. That is why I began my statement with an admission and an apology before going into these details. This is not an excuse, only an explanation.
I had been tested on five prior occasions while fighting for the UFC before the Brandon Vera fight. Four of the tests were urine only and one included a blood sample as well in New Jersey the day before the fight. I passed each of those tests. I suffered a severe back injury shortly before the Rashad Evans fight. It was the biggest fight of my career and there was no way I was going to pull out of it. I fought and lost and was out of action for a year rehabilitating the injury and getting ready to fight again.
I reinjured my back 45 days before the fight with Brandon Vera. After not fighting for a year, I made the decision to not pull out of the fight. I also decided that the only way I could continue with the fight was to take injections in my back and spine that contained substances prohibited by the Nevada Athletic Commission. I also made the decision to use a product to hide the presence of these substances in a urine test.
These decisions were mine and mine alone. I did not share this information with anyone prior to the fight for fear that I would not be allowed to fight. I obviously made a terrible decision. I have since learned that it may have even been possible to fight had I been open and honest and disclosed the injury and treatment prior to the fight. I also realize that not being allowed to fight as a result of the treatment would have been a better result than the mess into which I have now gotten myself.
Again, I take full responsibility for making the decision to break the rules and try to cheat the system. I will accept the punishment I receive and will learn from this. I plan to come back as a better person and professional as a result.
Of course, his decision to step up and take responsibility for his actions came only after being publicly exposed by the state athletic commission. So what do you think LowKick'ers? Too little too late? Or better late than never?
Photo: Tracy Lee | Yahoo! Sports
Comments
damn thiago another year before we see you fight again
glad to know the story behind it all...
not like with chael
At least he is not giving us the " I unknowingly took a banned substance " Cliche. I'm not sure he really needed to take anything in order to beat Vera, but we'll never know.
sounds like a story to hide the truth and a more severe punishment. why did he look so big, what has that got to do with what he says in this statement.
he didnt need it to beat him. he is top level fighter. i think he took it so he could perform because of his injury and didnt want to back out of the fight.
I agree totally. He would have never come out and said he did it if he didn't get caught but at least he isn't trying to come up with a lie. I appreciate him telling the truth and not dragging this out even longer.
no one admits it before being caught. no one who's clinically sane anyway.
Sonnen did. He admitted to the use of testosterone to treat hypogonadism, and had the admission recorded as such before the fight.
Im sorry but if you knew that youd get in trouble for something u had done, lose money and get suspended, would u just turn around after that fight and say "oh by the way, i cheated ;)" NO! no athlete has ever done that. Especially after you took something to try and cover it up. These guys are fighters. He had a year layoff, im sure the payday was long overdue, who knows maybe he needed it for his family, we do not know what kinda pressure could have caused him to make that decision, if what he is saying is true. He did own up to it. And if everyone is willing to get passed the whole Chael thing, I do not see why this would be worse... i mean its not like thiago silva laundered money or anything in the process
Instead of having someone come up close and look at the person's penis. How about just do blood tests and urine tests (without being 1 inch from a guys ****) at the same time. They shouldn't be random. They should always do it before and after the fight.
I believe they are only random so that a fighter may get C o c k y and think, well they havent tested me in my last 3 fighters, so i can get away with it.. atleast thats my thought process on it.. it seems to be workig too. otherwise, they would just always cycle off for fights (which if ur going to cheat, be safe and off cycle for fights anyway!)
olympic level testing should even be a topic for conversation i dont know the cost of this but its the way forward for sure.
Joe Rogan podcast a week ago was talking about a well known mma fighter injecting injecting animal urine maybe it was thiago.
again dont just auto weak me.. im speculating thats all
I thought he looked way bigger during that fight with Vera but damn at least he's honest about it i figured after he didn't pass the test it was because of the back injury but thats understandable too bad he didn't just say something about it before the fight hopefully he comes back smarter and healthy this guy is a great fighter.
Wow man everybody seems to think thiago is somhow inocent in all this... this guy should have just man up or get out of the ufc. Do people feel bad about cheal? its the same shit exept cheal made excuses instaed of a feel good sob story.
NO steroids in fightiing!!
Come on MMa fighters the rules are simple, there needs to be stricter drug tests or steroids should be legal for fighters. ITS JUST NOT FAIR TO THE GUYS WHO DONT COMPLAIN ABOUT INJURYS!
i like thiago, but i cant say i believe him 100%. look at his build during the rashad fight compared to the vera fight. and there is a rumor going around that some guys at ATT juice
i dont buy his apology at all it sounds as if it was written by a lawyer it he took peds for his back then why did he show up ti fight with such a larger build the amount of testoteroene you take for a injury vs the amount you take to bulk up is a huge difference. the reason he isnot making any excusese is because there is no plausible reason he can come up with to explain the results of his test other than i cheated.
The line about "the decision was mine and mine alone" is obviously bullshit - he's protecting his camp, I doubt fighters just happen to know what kind of illegal substances one should use in order to battle an injury like that, a doctor would be involved. But at least he does not try to lie his way out of his own responsibility
Good that he owned up (once he got caught), but he still disrespected his opponent, the fans, and the sport with his slapping bullshit. He's a punk.
I would like to give Thiago credit for a full admission of guilt, but it is my guess that Dana White demanded it if Silva ever wanted to fight in the UFC again.
I hope these fighters stop taking steroids because I am getting tired of moving guys up then down in rankings--it's exhausting.
While I don't condone his steroid use, I hope he comes back clean and ready to fight once his ban is lifted.
Apologize to Veras Nose
i was reading hoping for him say what kind of animal urine he used smh...
i dont think he took roids, but just some kind of pain medication or something besides roids, im not sure but can things like roids be injected into the spine?...reallly doubt it idk
but yea uuumm....Brandon Vera's nose got rearrange.....really bad
The athletic commission thought they made an example with Chael Sonnen. You think they are gonna bring down the hammer harder with Thiago? I'm guessing they will say that, obviously, they weren't strict enough and I can kind of understand. But I said it before on here, instead of suspending them, they should increase the fines. No money means no more good life, no more fancy things, no more food, no more children's college funds. Suspensions won't teach any lessons. They will still be able to go to their gym and train. They will still be able to fight amongst teammates. But if you start hitting their wallets, then they'll finally realize that cheating isn't worth it. Although I think the embarassment of just being caught is bad enough, hopefully. Once the first monster fine goes down on a fighter, other fighters will start to realize that this is real. And let's be honest, these fighters are really just getting a slap on the wrist every time one of them gets caught. And while it isn't fair to the organization and the fans, it's even worse for the opponent. Look at Brandon Vera. He suffered a broken nose and a shit ton of embarassment. At least the UFC did the right thing by reinstating him. But I'm pretty sure that in his next fight, Brandon will be extremely humbled with his prefight talk because of what Thiago did to him. They should give half of Thiago's purse to him.