Anderson Silva’s Team Blames Tainted Supplement For Failed Drug Test
Former middleweight champion and UFC legend Anderson Silva was flagged for the second time in his career for a positive drug test leading into his main event with Kelvin Gastelum in Shanghai last month.
Silva was unceremoniously pulled from the fight and is now facing a lengthy suspension given this was his second failed USADA test, but his coach has come to his defense using the ever-popular ‘tainted supplement’ excuse.
Silva’s conditioning coach Rogerio Camoes discussed his star pupil’s newest failed drug test on Brazilian television show “Revista Combate” on Tuesday:
“I’m with Anderson for many years and the first thing he said was, ‘Master, I didn’t take anything. I trust his word because Anderson is very mature and experienced, he has the conscience not to take anything that would compromise being suspended or taint his image.
“We believe in some contamination in some supplement. Every product he used, supplements, will be analyzed so we can prove there was a contamination. It’s a slow process, it’s not overnight, and it requires time and money. It’s very expensive.”
Many high profile fighters have used the same excuse when caught using performance-enhancing drugs, but Silva may not receive the benefit of the doubt this time around. Silva attributed his first failed test to some kind of over-the-counter, generic erectile dysfunction pills.
He was punished and suspended for a year regardless, and his team appears to be using a similar defense this time around, despite the fact that it didn’t grant him an appeal after the first failed test following UFC 183.
Camoes admitted to using testosterone replacement therapy himself, but stressed that ‘he never encourage anyone else to do so’.
The former champion, who ruled over the middleweight division for six years, has started looking more and more like an aged fighter in the waning part of his career, however, his conditioning coach believes we haven’t seen the last of “The Spider” in the Octagon:
“I believe he will (come back). In life, when someone is taken away from you, that’s when you want it the most. The thing he wants the most is fighting. I believe he will come back to fighting.
“Before all that happened, I remember saying to (boxing coach Luiz Carlos) Dorea, ‘This guy will fight for more three or four years. This guy will fight until he’s 45, 46 years old.’ He was like a young kid, so happy. Everything will be cleared.
“There will be a penalty, or course, we know the USADA rules, and even with a contamination, it’s the athlete’s responsibility what he takes and you have to be careful with that. We’re waiting for something to know which path we will go after all this.”
Do you believe Camoes tainted supplement defense? Will Anderson Silva ever fight again?
