Israel Adesanya Slammed With ‘Steroid Expert’ Tag By UFC Rival

Nigeria’s Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya (The Last Style Bender) has been hit with a verbal jab by one of his rivals, as Sean Strickland tagged the belt holder as a steroids expert, megasportsarena.com reports.

Strickland, who is trending toward the top of the UFC middleweight division, admitted that he expects Adesanya to still have the belt when he gets there, but insinuated that the New Zealand-based Nigerian-born fighter is not clean in terms of drugs.

He went on to charge Adesanya to ‘cycle off,’ while making an allegation of performance-enhancing drug use that stems from the champion’s title defense over Paulo Costa at UFC 253 in September 2020.

Adesanya, who has been tested 46 times under the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) since joining the UFC roster in 2018 without so much as a hiccup, adamantly refuted any notion he’s used banned substances

However, he came under the critical microscope surrounding that fight when he had swelling on his right pectoral muscle that some claimed to be Gynecomastia, but Adesanya’s coach, Eugene Bareman said back then that it is outrageous to imagine such speculation exists.

The rival, though, insists he is of the belief Adesanya is not playing the game fairly, but addd that he is unbothered by it and joked that the champion can teach him the ways ahead of a potential clash.

Strickland said: “Izzy’s a great fighter – he comes from kickboxing – have you ever seen a fighter with gyno for any other reason than that?

“Besides him, have you ever seen a fighter in the UFC that smokes weed that gets gyno? Ever? You can’t, because it doesn’t f*cking happen unless you cycle wrong.

“That’s a fact. We all know it. But regardless of the fact, Izzy’s a f*cking great fighter. We know that. That’s the fight I want.”

This came in reaction to a confession by Adesanya, who disclosed that his wonky pec at UFC 253 was simply because he smokes too much weed.

The 31-year-old ‘Last Style Bender’ added on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show that it was not due to steroids or some sort of medical issue.

Adesanya expatiated thus: “It might have just been unhealthy living a little bit — like, smoking weed. That’s what the doctor from the UFC said.”

December 17, 2021 at 09:30PM