Does the Professional Fighters’ League have a problem with performance-enhancing drugs? Not according to former UFC and Bellator fighter Chael Sonnen, who discussed the recent spate of PFL PED suspensions on his YouTube channel.
Nine PFL fighters received suspensions for banned substances this May alone, while the promotion’s 2023 lightweight champ Rob Wilkinson was forced out of a bout in June with a positive drug test. It might look like PFL has an issue, but Chael Sonnen sees things differently.
Chael Sonnen Has No Problem with PFL PED Suspensions
“Does the PFL have a problem? There’s a couple of ways to look at it, and my answer is no. No, they don’t. I look at it in a different way, which is, they went out to Nevada and they got like nine guys in a day.
It was roughly nine guys for the PFL, and then somebody else came in, and he was even a tournament winner, a defending winner that was planning to enter this season. So they get pulled, and the way I see it, they don’t have a problem, the PFL has a good system in place for catching these people.”
Chael Sonnen might be expected to say that, considering his own history of PED use. Sonnen tested positive for banned substances several times over the course of his MMA career, once joking that he had a “higher juice concentrate than Tropicana” when he fought Jon Jones back in 2013.
Eventually, Jon Jones, too, would test positive for PED use, leaving some commentators to wonder what the point of testing was if both fighters are juicing.
Sonnen pointed out that the array of failed drug tests offers a teaching moment for the PFL roster, and indeed the wider MMA community.
“Sometimes it’s educating them. People generally don’t like to hear that, that it was a mistake, but a lot of times it is, that somebody didn’t know that something that they’re taking is banned, or the time they’re taking it.
So when you have these athletes that were hit and they’re going to deal with that, they’re going to learn from it, but they’re also going to become examples for the rest of the roster to look at, ‘Oh, I’m doing that same thing.’ It’s kind of the way that it goes. I didn’t see a big problem with it. I just didn’t.”
Does Chael Sonnen have a point about the PFL? Is USADA doing enough to address PED use in combat sports? Let us know in the comments.
