Coach Pederneiras: MMA without PEDs won’t be as spectacular

Andre Pederneiras is one of the greatest coaches in the sport of mixed martial arts.

The founder of Nova Uniao has instructed some of the sports biggest stars including Jose Aldo, Renan Barao, Junior dos Santos, Pedro Rizzo and of course BJ Penn.

Pederneiras recently spoke to Portal do Vale Tudo (as translated by Lucas Rezende for BloodyElbow) about the enhanced PED testing and stricter penalties that are coming to the sport of MMA. The coach is all for the enhanced testing, but also offers a bluntly realistic look at one of the consequences – the fighters will not be as good:

“If the UFC wants the best show and the guy is juiced, you will have the best show of your life,” said Pederneiras to Portal do Vale Tudo. “If it is a sport and everyone is clean, maybe people won’t be jumping out of their seats and cheering. I’m not saying it’s right to do it, I’m against it, but everybody knows that if a guy is not under the effect of any substances, he will not perform as well as an athlete who is. It’s a very tricky moment to figure out what path to take.”

Pederneiras continued:

“Guys who use it don’t say they do. Sometimes I watch interviews and there’s some guys bashing steroids and I know they take them. It’s complicated. If you’re in this game and going down that path, you know you’re taking a chance. Sometimes a guy is injured and even doctors tell them to take something in order to heal faster and then that guy is randomly tested and gets caught. So we need to consider all of that before we crucify someone.”

Do you agree with the statements made by Coach Pederneiras? Sound off Penn Nation!

WATCH PHUKET DREAMING SEASON 2, EPISODE 1 — “THAI STYLE” SPONSORED BY BJPENN.COM.