Aljamain Sterling might not be a judge or jury, but he wants to see justice served.
Sterling’s Stance
The UFC Bantamweight Champion has made his stance on performance-enhancing drugs (PED’s) clear as day. Sterling isn’t a fan of steroids, EPO or anything else that can give you a boost inside the Octagon. He also goes the extra mile in believing there should be something more than a slap on the wrist.
It’s 2022. Combat sports might not be the wild west it once was, where everybody is on ‘the juice’, but that doesn’t stop some fighters from going the PED route. Proof of that would be TJ Dillashaw, who tested positive for EPO back in 2019.
The former king, Dillashaw, would be stripped of his title and suspended from the UFC for 2 years.
‘Funkmaster’ Thinks Of Another Punishment
However, Sterling doesn’t think this is enough. ‘Funkmaster’ feels as though there should be a way bigger punishment for those who piss hot.
One where steroid users wear orange.
“That s*** bothers me, man, it really does bother me.” Sterling said on The MMA Hour. You should do jail time for doing EPO, or steroids, or any type of shit like that in the UFC – in combat sports in general.”
“You can literally rearrange someone’s career, their livelihood, doing this contact sport, man. This is not like playing basketball, we’re not shooting hoops, we’re not hitting a baseball into the crowd, you know what I’m talking about? We’re dealing with lifechanging events when you step into that Octagon. The ones that are stupid will say ‘well, no-one put a gun to your head and told you to do this’. What? How is that a logical comeback to justify those actions? Like, what?!”
We have seen what ‘juiced-up’ fighters have done inside the Octagon, like Vitor Belfort taking away Michael Bisping’s eye with his ‘TRT’ power.
Sterling vs. Steroids
Sterling believes PED users should do time behind bars for trying to get an edge on their competition in combat. There’s a big line between time bans from fighting and serving a jail sentence, but Sterling firmly believes that should be the punishment.
Aljamain Sterling also has reason to believe that his rival Petr Yan is on some steroids, accusing him ahead of their rematch at UFC 273. But unlike TJ Dillashaw, that has yet to be proven true.
