‘Sugar’ Sean O’Malley weighed in on alleged steroid use by Islam Makhachev and Russian athletes in general from an early age.
Prior to his bout at UFC Vegas 66 on Saturday, ‘King’ Bobby Green commented on current lightweight champion Islam Makhachev’s incredible strength and cited an old interview he had found online where Makhachev revealed that he had been given “vitamins” since the moment he started training in Russia. The implication is that the “vitamins” were in fact performance-enhancing drugs.
“He was saying that when he first came over that his school that he trained at in Russia, they just gave him vitamins,” explained Green. “They’d been doing this since who knows when — when you start training.”
Sean O’Malley shared his thoughts on Green’s comments during a recent episode of the ‘Timbo Sugar Show‘ podcast on YouTube.
“Did you see Bobby [Green] saying Islam was so f*cking strong and felt something like he’s never felt before? And then he said he was watching an interview from a long time ago when Islam got in trouble with something with USADA,” said O’Malley. “Islam was saying when he grew up, they would just give him supplements. In Russia, they would just give all the athletes supplements. They know what the f*ck they’re taking. 13, 14, 15. So maybe that’s why he feels so f*cking strong.”
Bobby Green sounds off on Islam Makhachev. 😳
"Imagine if you gave someone steroids from the age of 10?"#UFCVegas66 | Full video: https://t.co/x4dYPrIfxn pic.twitter.com/1VtbGcJUay
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) December 15, 2022
Sean O’Malley Coach Tim Welch Comments on Russia’s Olympic Ban
Sean O’Malley’s coach and podcast co-host Tim Welch weighed in on the subject, saying:
“Dude, I wouldn’t be surprised. I wouldn’t be surprised. There’s a reason Russia got banned from the Olympics and sh*t.”
In 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency banned Russia from international competition after the country was found guilty of running a state-sponsored doping scheme for years. The country was first exposed by a whistleblower in 2016 which prompted a suspension the following year before being outright banned. Russian athletes were still permitted to compete at the Olympic games during the ban but had to compete under the Russian Olympic Committee designation.
The ban expired in December 2022 making Russia eligible to compete at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
