Sam Alvey On PEDs: Everyone Takes Them
After dropping his UFC debut last August, The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 16 veteran “Smilin’” Sam Alvey has begun to make a name for himself, scoring three-straight first-round knockout victories in his last three bouts, and pairing even better post-fight speeches to go along with his wins. He is one of the most humorous, and entertaining names in the sport, a guy fans just can’t get enough of.
It looks as if Alvey has made headlines once again, but this time not for his knockouts, but rather his view on a glaring problem in mixed martial arts (MMA): performance-enhancing-drugs (PEDs).
With many big name stars popping for PEDs in recent memory, the UFC has constructed, along with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and new UFC employee, famed anti-doping advocate Jeff Novitsky, a new and improved, much more stricter drug testing program which is set to go into effect on July 1, 2015. Alongside the new testing has also come new punishments which are much harsher, which should lead to a crackdown in the use of these drugs.
Talking on a recent edition of the P4P Podcast with Jordan Killion, “Smilin’” Sam said that despite the new program going into effect, he believes that many fighters are on PEDs. In fact, Alvey believes that a whopping 90% of the sport is cheating, as he notes that human beings just don’t look like fighters do:
“Everyone takes them,” Alvey said on the P4P podcast. I think even in today’s UFC most the guys today take them. It was an even playing field even if he was on steroids so was everyone else.”
“I’m sayin 90% … Yeah, human beings don’t look like this.”
Continuing on, Alvey referenced baseball, another sport with a plagued history of PED use, and added that people will always find a way to cheat:
“In baseball they make a lot more money so they can pay for the really good drugs. People will always find a way to cheat, it’s just the way they are and they will just pay to get the drug they are not testing for. What’s that red deer antler thing everyone uses in baseball right now? Now they are testing it for it everyone will find some … frog so they get super strong, something they aren’t testing for yet. People always find a way to cheat. You can’t always tell but you can usually tell.”
Do you agree with “Smilin’” Sam? Will we start to see a lot of fighters getting busted for PED use once the new testing goes into place?
