Louder with Crowder - February 04, 2015


Chael Sonnen on Anderson Silva's Positive Steroid Results || Louder With Crowder


Episode Stats

Length

7 minutes

Words per Minute

195.61644

Word Count

1,428

Sentence Count

107


Summary

In this episode, we discuss the news that Anderson Silva tested positive for two banned performance enhancing drugs, and what it means for his future in the sport of mixed martial arts. We also discuss the implications of the news, and whether or not it was intentional.


Transcript

00:00:02.000 Your longtime rival, Anderson Silva, and you're a gentleman.
00:00:06.000 You don't need to play the gentleman card.
00:00:08.000 There are not enough people listening here.
00:00:09.000 Just tested positive now for two banned steroids.
00:00:15.000 What do you make of that?
00:00:16.000 There's a lot of speculation going on.
00:00:18.000 What was your initial reaction when you heard it?
00:00:20.000 Well, just to put it in perspective for everybody that maybe doesn't follow the news on Anderson as you're speaking of, but we're about 12 hours into this whole thing.
00:00:29.000 So my opinion and your opinion, we need to reserve the right to change our opinion when we're confronted with New evidence, which is certainly going to happen as this thing continues on.
00:00:41.000 But, you know, look, there's two sides to this here.
00:00:43.000 There's two parts of it, at least.
00:00:45.000 First off, and again, quick timeline for everybody.
00:00:48.000 Anderson Silva had what's known as a compound fracture in his leg.
00:00:51.000 His leg snapped, meaning the bone had a clean break in half.
00:00:55.000 The only thing that kept his shin and his foot...
00:00:59.000 Connected to his body was his skin.
00:01:01.000 And as graphic as that sounds, it's very relevant to this.
00:01:04.000 Now, Anderson has an obligation, a moral obligation to himself to put his health first.
00:01:12.000 He needs to do whatever he can to repair that leg.
00:01:15.000 I think we can all stipulate to that, whether it's free market or black market.
00:01:20.000 If it helps his leg, even if he's got a lean on side, it's good for him.
00:01:24.000 However, the second part of it is sport.
00:01:29.000 There are rules within the sport, and they have to be followed no matter what.
00:01:32.000 It's real black and white, and you don't often get to come to the table and go, well, yeah, but there is a reason for that.
00:01:39.000 You don't get to do that.
00:01:40.000 It sounds as though he took something that's banned.
00:01:44.000 It sounds as though it's an illegal steroid, and he's going to have to answer for that.
00:01:48.000 So it's a little bit of a two-part thing.
00:01:50.000 Well, hold on.
00:01:51.000 One second.
00:01:52.000 Go ahead.
00:01:53.000 Because you just mentioned something that you and I have talked about.
00:01:55.000 I've heard you mention before a lot of people don't understand, right?
00:01:58.000 And we'll get into the fact because a lot of people will say, well, Chiel can't compliment us.
00:02:02.000 He's a hypocrite.
00:02:02.000 And we'll get into that.
00:02:03.000 But difference between a banned substance and an illegal steroid.
00:02:09.000 What he was taking, to the best of my understanding, at least one of those substances, was an illegal steroid.
00:02:16.000 Am I right, wrong?
00:02:18.000 And what's the difference?
00:02:19.000 According to what he's accused of, yes, he had, I believe it was two things in his system.
00:02:24.000 I believe they are both illegal steroids, to my understanding.
00:02:27.000 In America, he came from South America.
00:02:30.000 Again, there could be some conversation on laws there, but by our standards and my understanding, yes, that's correct.
00:02:35.000 One thing I will say, having read up on the drugs that Anderson did use, you know, one of those substances, if you look at it, actually one of its symptoms, one of the side effects, is that it can cause overcalcification.
00:02:47.000 It can actually cause bones to become weaker and more prone to breaking.
00:02:51.000 Did you know that?
00:02:52.000 No, I hadn't heard that.
00:02:53.000 And that's where you have all of the people speculating.
00:02:55.000 And again, it is speculation.
00:02:56.000 You have a bunch of mouth breathers who've never hit an armbar in their life on Sure Dog, acting like they're now medical experts or biochemists.
00:03:04.000 But that is an actual side effect of that one drug that he had taken, which sort of makes it interesting.
00:03:09.000 I know, listen, you hate to ever drag someone's name through the mud.
00:03:12.000 Obviously, you've had some things happen, but it is a little bit fun as the news unfolds, let's be honest.
00:03:17.000 I'll tell you this about myself.
00:03:19.000 I was asked that too.
00:03:21.000 As soon as you test positive for something, people will want to say it was over your whole career.
00:03:26.000 And my response is that's fair.
00:03:27.000 That's a fair statement.
00:03:28.000 If you get hit with something, it runs you all the way back in time.
00:03:32.000 Right.
00:03:32.000 The reality is, as science and medicine change, you're constantly taking new things.
00:03:39.000 Are they within the rules or not?
00:03:40.000 I think that's all a good question.
00:03:42.000 Nobody's totally clear on what these rules are.
00:03:44.000 I don't think you or I knew, prior to Anderson testing positive, how to pronounce these substances, let alone were they allowed or not.
00:03:51.000 So you kind of learn as you go, but I do think that's a fair statement.
00:03:55.000 I don't think it helps a guy to ever come out and go, no, no, no, this was a one time, or man, they just caught me out of bed.
00:04:04.000 Call it what it is, man.
00:04:05.000 You took it, you got caught in the end.
00:04:07.000 And that's what happened.
00:04:08.000 We'll see how Anderson handles it, but I think when somebody, at least for me, when somebody tried to say things, even if it wasn't accurate, I think I still deserve it.
00:04:18.000 If you test positive and somebody wants to run that back all the way to when I started my career at nine years old, I don't think that guy's wrong.
00:04:26.000 Do you think Anderson was on something when you fought him?
00:04:30.000 I can tell you...
00:04:32.000 I can tell you on the substance issues, the rules get very blurred, and I'll tell you why.
00:04:38.000 They have something now called out-of-competition testing.
00:04:42.000 The rule used to be, and the rule when I started and came through, and one of the problems I had was not adapting to the changes, but it used to just be in-competition, meaning what's in your system on fight night.
00:04:55.000 Time mattered.
00:04:56.000 If you were to come in and go, hey, listen, I gotta tell you guys, when I was in high school, I did, and then fill in the blank, they go, oh, we don't care.
00:05:02.000 You go, well, bad news.
00:05:04.000 When I was in college, I did it again.
00:05:07.000 They go, oh, we don't care.
00:05:08.000 So right off the bat, you understand time does matter.
00:05:11.000 There is a time period of which all is forgiven.
00:05:14.000 The confusion has come in, what is that time period?
00:05:18.000 And I accept that these are the rules and we must operate within them.
00:05:22.000 I do believe there's a conversation to be had that you can't just ban all medication from a person.
00:05:28.000 A person does not have...
00:05:29.000 Hold on one second.
00:05:30.000 ...between health and sport.
00:05:31.000 I hate to do this.
00:05:33.000 But the question was, do you believe, do you think...
00:05:36.000 Now, if someone holds a gun to your head, do you think Anderson had used before?
00:05:41.000 Or do you think this was a one-time deal?
00:05:43.000 When you fought him, do you think he was on something?
00:05:44.000 If you have to guess.
00:05:46.000 I can't answer with a yes or no, Stephen, because here's why.
00:05:50.000 Here's why.
00:05:52.000 If you're saying that a guy never took a banned substance in his life, that's a silly statement, particularly in the context that you and I just established, that Tylenol, caffeine, these things are all banned substances.
00:06:05.000 But what about these substances that he was taking?
00:06:08.000 I really don't know, man.
00:06:09.000 I can tell you this on Anderson Silva.com.
00:06:13.000 The human body doesn't get better with age.
00:06:15.000 That's reality.
00:06:16.000 We start to decline as humans and particularly as athletes right around 25 years old.
00:06:22.000 If you're real lucky, you might push that to 27 or 28.
00:06:25.000 The good news is science and medicine have come along and decided the world does not belong to 18 to 25 year olds, but that you can extend your career beyond that.
00:06:36.000 So if you're asking me if he took something, there's two tests that you take, Stephen.
00:06:40.000 The first test is not The urine drug test.
00:06:44.000 The first test is the visual.
00:06:46.000 When a guy takes his t-shirt off and gets into the ring or steps on the scale, you look at him.
00:06:52.000 If a guy got better with time, you can't do that on your own.
00:06:56.000 Anderson Silva's body doesn't appear to have changed at all.
00:07:00.000 So, a reasonable person would conclude that whatever he was on now, he was on before, but there's no evidence to support that.
00:07:11.000 So, that ticked me off.
00:07:12.000 Again, Chris is a good friend of mine.
00:07:14.000 He trained me.
00:07:15.000 We were partners on Stars Earned Stripes.