Michael Chandler Wishes USADA Was Testing Him
Pitbulll has accused Chandler of using illegal substances in the past, which is just one reason while the lightweight champion wants USADA testing him.
“Whether Bellator likes to admit it or not, they don’t have USADA” Chandler said on The MMA Hour. “That’s the hard part about it all. I can’t sit here and say I have USADA knocking on my door every other day like some of these guys. I see USADA at the gym and get a little bit jealous because I wish they were testing me.”
USADA does handle drug testing for the UFC, while Bellator MMA usually allows the various athletic commissions to do the testing for their events.
Chandler admits that he started seeing more criticism once the UFC allowed USADA to do their drug testing.
“At the end of the day, it’s the media’s job to take what athlete say or what certain talent says and put it into print or put into the internet,” Chandler said. “That’s their job. Could they pick and chose their headlines differently? Of course, because clickbait is a real thing. It’s unfortunate because I have so much confidence in myself that I am 100 percent and I know I am 100 percent clean that I wish I was in an organization [that did more drug testing]. Now don’t use that headline, ‘Michael Chandler wishes he was in the UFC.’ I wish I didn’t have the dark cloud behind me of ‘Yeah, you’re in Bellator’ or ‘Yeah, you’re in ONE FC’ or ‘Yeah, you’re in RIZIN’ or these organizations that aren’t [under] USADA. As soon as the UFC came in — and hats off to them, let’s clean up the sport — but as soon as the UFC adopted their anti-doping policy and USADA, that’s when I started to see much more [criticism]. It’s not ‘Hey, Chandler likes Bellator’ or ‘Chandler is getting paid the most money in Bellator’ or ‘Chandler sees the best road to taking care of his family and setting himself up the future in Bellator.’ Instead it’s: ‘Chandler stays in Bellator because they don’t have drug testing like the UFC.’ It’s silly stuff like that, unfortunately, that puts a huge blemish on how much I love this sport or how much I love the fan base.”
Bellator 221 takes place on Saturday, May 11 from the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois with Michael Chandler and Patricio Pitbull headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which streams live on DAZN.
