There's a lot of impressive physiques in mixed martial arts, none more so than Cheick Kongo. Kongo says he doesn't use performance enhancing drugs and never will. He can't say the same about his compadres. Kongo is part of a growing group of fighters going public with claims that the sport has an issue with steroid use.
"50 percent [of MMA fighters take steroids], if not more.... What can I say, other than we need to stay away from all of that. It's not easy to put things into perspective, especially if you believe that you have a disadvantage from the get go," Kongo told Riddum.com.
The Frenchman is absolutely shredded, so there be no purpose for him to use steroids, right? That's not entirely true. He's a 230-pound heavyweight in a world of 265 pounders. Kongo says there's a ton of pressure to keep up with the Joneses in all weight classes.
"For some athletes, it's hard to hold up physically and mentally- the pressure, the obligation to stay on top - everything pushes you to take steroids," said Kongo.
Kongo (15-6-2, 8-4-1 UFC) fought to a draw this weekend at UFC 120 against the 6-foot-7, 251-pound Travis Browne. He was clearly at a power disadvantage but he won't change his mind about turning to drugs for help.
"For me, PEDs aren't the solution," said Kongo. "Taking PEDs jeopardizes your health and it's cheating. I am a fighter; I owe my victories to my hard work, my training, the fact that I push myself beyond the limit, the sacrifices I make to a life almost entirely dedicated to sports. Nothing else. Stay away from the needles. You can succeed without them."
Kongo joins Dennis Hallman, who told Inside MMA on HDNet that he also thought 50 percent of the game was using. After his fight at UFC 117, Hallman apologized for making the statement. His post-comment behavior was similar to Josh Koscheck, who at the start of taping for Season 12 of "The Ultimate Fighter" suggested that he and GSP should be blood tested like Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley were before their fight. Kos quickly rescinded his request and apologized for thinly-veiled claims that St. Pierre was using.
For fans of the major sports, this sounds eerily similar to the 2005 claims made by Jose Canseco that 85 percent of baseball was using. In MMA, is this a case of "Where there's smoke there's fire?" or are Hallman, Koscheck, B.J. Penn and Kongo full of it?
Hopefully, this is all a minor story soon when cheaper ways of blood testing come along. Then extensive testing should be made mandatory for all major cards in the U.S. Until then, the sport has a pretty good-sized image issue to deal with unless it can get its own athletes to stop speaking their mind.
Tip via MMAMania
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