Fabricio Werdum won’t be eligible to fight again until May 2020 after being suspended by the USADA, but he says that he could’ve had a shorter suspension if he’d been willing to speak up about other fighters who were using banned substances, too.
In an interview with Combate.com (which was partially translated by MMAJunkie), Werdum claimed that the five-hour interview he had with USADA representatives concluded with them stating he could have his sentence reduced if he “snitched.” Werdum, however, says he refused. “For the guy to make me an offer like that, to snitch on someone, that goes against my principles. I can’t tell on someone. Even if I knew, I wouldn’t do it. How am I going to snitch on someone to make it better for me, to lower my suspension or whatever?”
Werdum’s comments come shortly after it was revealed that Jon Jones, who also received an anti-doping sentence, had his suspension shortened after reportedly giving names of other fighters he accused of using banned substances. Both Jones’ and Werdum’s sentences began retroactively, but Jones’ sentence of fifteen months (which concludes in October this year) was far shorter than Werdum’s two-year sentence; Werdum won’t be eligible to fight again until he’s 43 years old. Werdum bemoaned this fact in the Combate.com interview as well, although he didn’t specifically name Jones. “I’m not going to name names, but I saw that recently a guy who was supposed to have caught four years ended up catching 15 months. And I caught 24 months. How come? If it was his second or third offense?”
