Anderson Silva says he has “no regrets” about past PED suspensions

Speaking to the media ahead of his final UFC fight, MMA legend Anderson Silva says he has “no regrets” about his past PED suspensions.

The 45-year-old Silva is generally regarded as one of the best MMA fighters of all time but one argument that is used against him is his previous sanctions for performance-enhancing drugs. In 2015, Silva defeated Nick Diaz via unanimous decision at UFC 183 but the fight was overturned to a No Contest after Silva tested positive for steroids by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. He was also fined and suspended for one year.

In 2017, Silva was suspended by USADA for one year after failing a drug test ahead of a proposed fight against Kelvin Gastelum. USADA ultimately vindicated Silva by announcing he had used a contaminated substance, but Silva was still suspended anyway since it was in his body. Due to the Silva incident and a similar issue with Josh Barnett, USADA later changed its policy to not prematurely announce that fighters had failed their drug tests.

Speaking to the media ahead of his fight against Uriah Hall at UFC Vegas 12, Silva spoke about his previous suspensions for PEDs, saying he has “no regrets” (via AG Fight).

“I don’t regret anything, because everything has been proven. The big problem with the media is because they give the news before they have all the results and all the concrete evidence. What happened next is that they saw that I had not used any anabolic steroids, which is what I had to prove,” Silva said.

“The other time that I also fell on doping, it was a contaminated supplement, that was proven. Unfortunately, I had to serve as a basis to change the concept of how to judge and punish the person. Nowadays, if someone falls into doping the name is not divulged until it is investigated until the last instance.”

Do you think the failed drug tests hurt the legacy of Anderson Silva?