Nicky Rodriguez recently weighed in on the ongoing debate about introducing stricter PED testing in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
While some promotions, like the IBJJF, conduct limited testing for winners of major events, the sport as a whole remains largely unregulated in this regard.
This has led to a culture where PED use is widespread, with even some of the most successful athletes, like Gordon Ryan, openly admitting to using them.
Rodriguez has long been a vocal advocate for clean competition.
When asked about his thoughts on the issue, Rodriguez didn’t hold back:
I just think that using performance-enhancing drugs probably takes away from, you know, the purity of the sport in the sense of how good your technique is, how athletic you really are because you can just overpower somebody.
And also like a lot of these guys can just take steroids and not necessarily work out and build muscle.
That’s kind of like, I mean, that sounds like cheating, right?
Beyond simply disapproving of PED use, Rodriguez also called for increased testing across all major competitions:
I would love it if every competition in Jiu-Jitsu was drug tested vigorously, and I look forward to the day that the UFC commits to that.
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