Yoel Romero dodged a bullet after failing a drug test shortly after his win over Ronald Souza at UFC 194, getting suspended for only six months after United States Anti-Doping (USADA) agency struck a deal with "Soldier of God" to take the sentence instead of going into arbitration.
A fair deal for the Romero camp, seeing as how they were adamant he never knowingly took a banned substance, instead becoming the latest victim of a tainted supplement.
In Chris Weidman's view, the whole "tainted supplement" excuse is just that, as "All American" simply isn't sold on the fact that there are supplements out there that aren't as clean as they're made out to be. As he explained on "The MMA Hour," there now seems to be some sort of mass hysteria in the mixed martial arts (MMA) community with fighters fearful of taking supplements.
He explains.
"To be honest with you, I think once you put PEDs in your system you should be suspended forever. And now you have this whole thing that it was tainted supplements, which honestly I'm not sold on it. It feels like every time somebody fails a drug test the first thing they go to is, 'Oh, I was taking this and it was tainted.' It doesn't take too much time to say, 'I failed for testosterone, or whatever, and let me find a supplement inside GNC that people might feel is not a big deal to take to make them be a little more lenient with their sentence on me.' Then when you bring it up, it's 'I took a tainted supplement.' I am not sold on that there really are tainted supplements out there. I feel if you've been taking legit stuff like protein and creatine and it's not from some weird thing that says testosterone booster, then I don't believe you are failing drug tests. I feel like people are crapping their pants now because every time that someone fails a drug test, they say it was due to a tainted supplement and now everyone's afraid to take supplements. I don't even think that's real."
Weidman -- like many before him -- has long been opposed to performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), which is no surprise to hear him lobby for stricter sentences than a two-year suspension.
Nevertheless, he is out to make an example out of Romero -- who he says was taking steroids -- when the two talented middleweights collide at UFC 205 on Nov. 12, 2016 in New York City. With a win, Chris believes he should be next in line for a shot at reclaiming the 185-pound title.
"It's personal because the guy is a gifted athlete, he just failed for steroids and this is the biggest fight of my life. I'm fighting at Madison Square Garden and I feel like I will probably get the title fight if I go out there and do my thing the way I feel I should. This is a huge fight, I have no emotional connection, but I don't like it when people take steroids and cheat, especially when you walk into the cage, it really pisses me off. Then you have all these excuses and people start feeling sorry for you, I don't buy it. I go crazy with these guys taking steroids, but I was in the sport pre-USADA and I was naive that these guys weren't taking steroids and now all of these guys are getting caught for it. At the end of the day, I was fighting guys on steroids even before this and own guys who are just getting caught for it."
Weidman's path to the title won't be easy as Romero currently has the longest winning streak in the division with seven consecutive victories. Plus, Ronaldo Souza and Luke Rockhold look to make a case for their own shot at the strap when they collide at UFC Fight Night 101 on Nov. 26, 2016 in Melbourne, Australia.
To see who else is fighting at the upcoming UFC 205 pay-per-view (PPV) event click here.