Michael Chandler addresses the accusations of PED usage.
The former Bellator World Lightweight Champion has been accused multiple times of using performance enhancement drugs, with current Bellator champ Patricio Freire calling the 34-year-old “one of the biggest PED users in the sport”:
“I’ve already said it before in interviews and tweeted about it: Chandler wasn’t going anywhere near USADA,” Freire told MMAjunkie. “He was just talking about the UFC as negotiation tactics. That guy is one of the biggest PED users in the sport.”
With Chandler now serving as back-up for the UFC 254 Lightweight title between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje, the accusations of being a PED user has restarted once again and Chandler took the time to address the speculation:
“Here I am now taking a fight, October 24 possibly, which is 11 weeks removed from my previous fight [against Benson Henderson],” Chandler told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. “So it wasn’t like I’m coming into the UFC and saying, ‘hey guys, I need a year. Give me a year before I step into the cage.’ No, test me now. Test me ASAP. So I don’t need time. I’m excited about that. To lay that to rest, I’m excited to be a year clean, two years, three years, four years — you’re not going to hear me say anything about it.
I’m just going to quietly, silently continue to do my hard work, supplement correctly, live a champion lifestyle and expand people’s minds about what the human body is capable of. I realized long ago I was put into this sport to expand people’s view of the human condition, the human spirit, what the human body is capable of.
Now you got to remember, this is Joe Schmo who is a car mechanic telling me I’m on PEDs because he lifts two days a week at 24 Hour Fitness. Well, listen Joe. I’ve been doing this for two decades now, training twice a day, 360 days a year, having access to world class healthcare, opportunities, science because my body has been my vehicle, my vessel in which I feed my family. So if I look a certain way, it’s because of hard work. The great thing is I get to prove that now. I am very, very happy that the UFC implemented USADA and as soon as they did, I’ve been chomping at the bit and I said I can’t wait to get into that testing pool and here we are.”
Chandler has never failed a drug test during his decade-plus run in Bellator, but their drug testing standards aren’t the same as the UFC’s.