UFC and MMA veteran Erik Koch was recently suspended due to a positive steroid test, as reported by BloodyElbow. The noted welterweight was given an eighteen month USADA suspension as a result of the failed test, this means he will be eligible to return in early April of 2022. Koch joined the UFC after the merger between Ultimate Fighting Championship and World Extreme Cagefighting back in 2010. He would end up winning his first fight against against Raphael Assunção at UFC 128 back in 2011 and currently has a record of 16-6. Three UFC fighters were recently released.
Acclaimed UFC commentator and podcast host, Joe Rogan has made reference to steroids being used in the UFC as he stated how the UFC and MMA is a ‘steroid epidemic’ during a 2015 edition of The Joe Rogan Experience. Credit to MMAJunkie for the below quotes.
“The UFC and MMA in general is a steroid epidemic. They’ve started this really stringent testing, and everybody is getting popped. They’re just getting popped left and right. It’s one of the things fighters have been saying for a long time, that everyone is on steroids, or a huge percentage. The number (is) 50, 60 (percent), whatever it is.”
“Fighters will sometimes train three times a day,” Rogan said. “Maybe they’ll run, do sprints in the morning, and then they’ll do some kind of strength and conditioning in the afternoon. Then they’ll do wrestling or jiu-jitsu at night. Then they’ll vary. The next day they might do kickboxing in the morning and running in the afternoon, then weight lifting at night. But you’re talking about working out three times in a day because you have all these different skills you have to work on.
“You have to work on your wrestling, kickboxing, jiu-jitsu. There’s not enough time in the day, and there’s not enough time to recover. So that’s when comes in Dr. Feelgood. He comes along, and bang.”
Former UFC fighter Erik Koch receives 18-month USADA suspension for positive steroid test https://t.co/zov5cer64J
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) June 17, 2021
