5 fighters who were expected to be clean but weren't

The fight against PED use in MMA has always been a long and tricky one, and ever since the UFC introduced their USADA-driven anti-doping programme, it’s always hard to tell whether the athletes we’re watching are really competing drug-free.

The so-called ‘eye test’ is never the best way of working out whether a fighter is on PEDs, although in the past, we’ve seen fighters with highly suspicious physiques – naming no names – unsurprisingly test positive. But on other occasions, the guilty parties have been a major shock – sometimes that’s because they don’t look like they’re on PEDs, and other times it’s because as fans, we expected better of them.

Here are five fighters who everyone thought were clean, but turned out not to be.

---

#5 Tim Sylvia

Despite not looking like a steroid user, Tim Sylvia tested positive in 2003

When you think of anabolic steroids, you think of an inflated physique that would more likely be seen inside the rings of WWE or on the unregulated bodybuilding circuit. You know the stereotype – ripped abs on a bulging stomach, veins protruding everywhere, a seemingly non-existent neck, and so on.

There have been fighters who looked that way – some of whom were indeed on steroids – but in 2003, Tim Sylvia wasn’t one of them.

Standing at 6’8” and tipping the scales just under the 265lbs limit for the UFC’s Heavyweight division, Sylvia looked more awkward than anything else, but his slightly flabby physique masked a remarkably powerful punch, and he used that to win the Heavyweight title from Ricco Rodriguez at UFC 41.

A title defense came at UFC 44 with a knockout of Gan McGee, but following the fight, Sylvia tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol, commonly known as Winstrol.

Everyone was surprised, largely because visually at least, Sylvia just didn’t look like he’d ever touched a weight in his life, let alone taken steroids. ‘The Maine-iac’ had a logical – and frank – explanation, however.

He admitted to using the drug and said he hadn’t taken it to improve his fighting skills, but to improve his physique to make him more marketable. The Nevada State Athletic Commission wasn’t impressed with his candidness though and slapped him with a six-month suspension.

While he never managed to gain the ripped abs he was looking for, upon his return, he never tested positive again at least.

#4 Lyoto Machida

Nobody suspected Lyoto Machida to be a PED user

Always marketed by the UFC as the very definition of a “traditional” martial artist, through the majority of his UFC career Lyoto Machida was never linked with PED use, nor did his physique suggest that he had something to hide either.

A karate master who used his vaunted skills to win the Light-Heavyweight title in 2009, the most controversial thing Machida had ever been involved in was an odd report that suggested he drank his own urine for health benefits. That was until recently.

After his career had begun to decline in 2015 – he’d suffered three losses in four fights including stoppages at the hands of Luke Rockhold and Yoel Romero – Lyoto took some time away before signing to fight Dan Henderson in April 2016.

Prior to the fight, though, Machida tested positive for the USADA-prohibited substance 7-Keto-DHEA. He was immediately pulled from the fight and ended up being handed a long eighteen-month suspension, seemingly because he freely admitted to what he’d done.

Despite experts in PED use claiming that the substance Machida took actually didn’t really enhance performance – supposedly it was a mild weight-loss drug at best – it was still a huge surprise to see a fighter as traditional and respectful as Machida to test positive for any banned substance.

#3 Josh Barnett

Despite three positive tests, Josh Barnett never looked like a steroid user

Similarly to Tim Sylvia, when UFC Heavyweight Champion Josh Barnett became one of the first UFC fighters to be busted for PED use back in 2002 – he tested positive after using DHEA, a banned testosterone booster – it must’ve come as a massive surprise given that his flabby physique, complete with love handles, didn’t exactly scream “steroids”.

Still, it was enough to drive Barnett away from US-based MMA for the best part of a decade. He fought on the Japanese circuit, largely for PRIDE, and it wasn’t until 2008 and the launch of the Affliction promotion that he would return to the States.

Barnett picked up two wins on Affliction’s first two shows and was then matched with the top Heavyweight in the world – Fedor Emelianenko – in the main event of the third. Except ten days before the event, somehow he tested positive again – this time for anabolic steroid drostanolone – and was pulled from the event.

Nobody could believe he’d tested positive – not only because his physique hadn’t improved, but because nobody thought he’d risk getting caught again.

After another stint in Japan, Barnett returned to the US again with StrikeForce and then moved to the UFC in 2013. After putting together a 3-2 run in the Octagon, Barnett then shocked everyone again with a third positive test – this time an out-of-competition one – in December 2016.

He remains under USADA investigation and he’s one of the only fighters to test positive three times – all the time looking like he’d never gone near steroids in his life.

#2 Anderson Silva

Anderson Silva's positive drug test took everyone by surprise

Similarly to Lyoto Machida, nobody ever expected Anderson Silva to test positive for PEDs. The legendary former Middleweight Champion was in the twilight of his career – returning from a devastating leg break – when he was busted following a January 2015 win over Nick Diaz.

Prior to this, Silva had held the Middleweight title for an insanely long period – almost seven years – and had made a then UFC-record ten consecutive title defenses. But he’d lost the title to Chris Weidman in 2013 and had seen a rematch end when he broke his leg.

But everything regarding his reputation changed following the Diaz fight. Silva tested positive for a cocktail of PEDs including anabolic steroids androstane and drostanolone, and anti-anxiety drugs oxazepam and temazepam.

Immediately his dominant run in the previous years was called into question, and despite claiming the positive tests were triggered by a sexual enhancement drug, he was suspended for a year by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Shortly after his positive test, the UFC introduced the USADA programme to attempt to clean the promotion up for good.

Sadly for Silva, he was caught for PED use again in November 2017 – this time he was pulled from a planned bout with Kelvin Gastelum after testing positive for the anabolic steroid Methyltestosterone.

The whole situation surrounding Silva is both sad and disappointing, as he was a fighter that nobody ever dreamed would consider using PEDs.

#1 Jon Fitch

Despite speaking out against PEDs, Jon Fitch tested positive in 2015

During his nearly eight-year tenure in the UFC, few fighters were so vehemently against PED use as Jon Fitch. He spoke out on numerous occasions against his fellow fighters who had tested positive and in 2013, ranted against the use of testosterone replacement therapy in MMA, claiming that at 35, his own testosterone levels were as high as they’d ever been, because he’d “never wrecked his body with steroids”.

Prior to his 2011 fight with BJ Penn, Fitch even turned to veganism and came into the fight looking in phenomenal shape, and given his UFC career had stretched back all the way to 2005 with no positive tests, there was nothing to suggest he was a PED user.

So it came as a massive shock in 2015 when Fitch tested positive for elevated testosterone levels – likely caused by the use of anabolic agents – following a fight in the World Series of Fighting promotion against Rousimar Palhares.

Following the positive test, Fitch was slapped with a nine-month suspension by the California State Athletic Commission. He has never really addressed the controversy, and since his return, he’s won four fights and has not tested positive since.

The final word must go to Fitch’s former foe, Penn, though – who taunted the wrestler on Twitter by calling him a “coward” while insinuating that the only “PED’s” he’d ever taken were “beer and hot dogs”. Talk about a burn!