Fabricio Werdum says USADA offered him the chance to ‘snitch’ but he turned it down

Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum, who was recently handed a two-year suspension by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), says the agency offered him the same opportunity to ‘snitch’ that they allegedly offered Jon Jones. Had Werdum agreed to “cooperate and provide credible substantial assistance“, he might have received a greatly reduced punishment, such as the 15-month term Jones received at the end of his dealings with USADA. Apparently, however, he was not interested in sharing intel on any of his associates or training partners.

“What surprised me the most was at the end of the interview [with USADA], it was something that I found absurd,” Fabricio Werdum told Combate (translation via MMAjunkie). “They said, ‘Werdum, here’s the thing: If you tell on someone …’ It was what you could call ‘delacao premiada’ (plea bargain). ‘Werdum, if you tell on someone’ – using the slang, if you’re a snitch – ‘we’ll shorten your suspension. Because you’re going to have to pay something. Even if we find the substance in any of the products we test, even if we find it, you’ll have to pay something.’

“… 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?”

Fabricio Werdum didn’t name Jon Jones’ name in this interview, but did compare his two-year punishment to the 15-month punishment received by another fighter. Unsurprisingly, he has a hard time with this lack of consistency.

“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,” Werdum said. “And I caught 24 months. How come? If it was his second or third offense? Is it two weights and two measures? How does that work? It’s very strange, really.”

What do you think of USADA offering reduced sentences to fighters like Fabricio Werdum and Jon Jones if they cough up information on their associates?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 9/30/2018.