Chris Weidman isn’t buying Yoel Romero’s claim of tainted supplements as the reason he failed a recent drug test.
The former middleweight champion spoke exclusively to BJPENN.com Radio and discussed Romero’s suspension and revealed his goals going into his first fight since losing the title to Luke Rockhold at UFC 199:
“I feel like the tainted supplement excuse is BS. I don’t buy it. I feel like every time someone fails a test they wait a couple of weeks and meet with their management team or lawyers and they figure out a supplement that could possibly have the same thing as what they got caught for and they say ‘Oh this is what I took, I bought it from GNC’.”
“So they expect USADA to give them a lesser suspension. Now, other fighters who are clean are afraid to take supplements because they think they’re gonna fail. I then it’s all BS.”
Weidman and Romero are set to fight at UFC 205 in Weidman’s hometown of New York City. While Weidman has been tending an injury, Romero most recently sorted out some of his suspension mess, and managed to received a shortened sentence from USADA as a result of the tainted supplements.
When asked about whether or not he expects Romero will look any different post-USADA suspension much like Vitor Belfort, Weidman was ambivalent:
“That would be nice if he came in looking like Vitor (post-USADA), but u don’t know man. I don’t expect that.”
While Weidman was relatively tight-lipped over how Romero may perform following his USADA suspension, he did make one thing perfectly clear: he believes he has the better cardio between the two, and he intends to exploit that:
“My goal is to make him work, make him more tired in the first round than he’s ever been in his entire life. That’s my goal.”
“I want to get this guy tired. I don’t want him to have any fun in there. Wrestling will be a big part of it.”
Do you think Romero will look or perform any different now that he is no longer using tainted supplements? Sound off, PENN Nation!