Chad Mendes breaks his silence on banned substance use and two-year suspension

Chad Mendes was suspended for two years on July 20 following his positive test for the growth-hormone releasing peptide, GHRP-17.

Mendes finally opened to KHTK Radio on Thursday about what exactly happened that has sidelined the former UFC featherweight title contender for a couple of years.

“It was GHRP-6. Before all this stuff came out I had no idea what that was. I don’t even know what that is and I started doing a bunch of research. This isn’t even a steroid, it’s a peptide. It’s basically an anti-aging type peptide,” Mendes said (transcribed by Bloody Elbow).

A source told Bloody Elbow a week ago that the banned substance was in a skin cream that Mendes used to treat a lifelong skin condition.

“I have suffered from plaque psoriasis my entire life. I’ve had that since I can even remember. I remember getting on the wrestling mat as a kid and people saying, ‘Ah you have a giant ringworm!’. It’s itchy all the damn time.”

Unfortunately for Mendes, he was unaware the banned substance was in a skin lotion that he started using to treat his skin condition.

“I broke the rules. Did I use it? Of course. I didn’t go to USADA and make some BS story. The only other thing that I started using that was new was the lotion, and sure enough GHRP-6 was one of the damn ingredients. Whether it’s intentional or not, that’s breaking the rules. I basically said, “alright I broke the rules.’”

Mendes said that he is embarrassed by the situation and never intentionally used the product to get ahead of his competition.

“It’s embarrassing to be honest, this is another reason why I haven’t talked about it. For this to come out and to be labelled a ‘juice head.’ I don’t ever want to be labelled a guy that’s cheating and taking steroids. It really is embarrassing to me. I’ve been trying to avoid it but it’s something that needs to get out cause I owe it to my true fans and I just feel horrible for them.”

While Mendes said his true fans are sticking by his side, he voiced his displeasure for the people uneducated about his situation.

“It’s been rough man, you get a lot of ignorant people in the comments and people in the media writing stuff that isn’t true and then headlines coming out and then people believe whatever they read.”