Weidman Reacts To Silva’s PEDS — ‘I’d retire early before using steroids’

“I was always under the belief that at least the top guys weren’t taking [PEDs]. I really believed that. I was naive. I thought taking steroids and performance enhancers is a mental weakness that the top, cream of the crop guys didn’t have to take. It was the guys that weren’t capable of being the best that needed them to try to hang with the best.”

“I’m just completely surprised by Anderson Silva. I’m not the guy who likes to kick people when they’re down so I’m not going to smear [Silva’s] name any more than it’s been smeared. I’m going to say it’s disappointing. I just always thought the champions, if you look at them, muscular-wise, they’re not these jacked up guys.”

“The thing that bothers me the most about this Anderson Silva thing and different guys getting caught, is that it’s more about the younger guys coming up. Now they’re going to think they have to start taking steroids. Now they’re going to speculate that Anderson Silva took it his whole career. His legacy is in question at this point. There’s no going back on that.

“They’re going to imagine that he was doing it, so [Silva] made, who knows, let’s say $50 million. ‘If he did that and he was able to take care of himself for the rest of his life, he and his family, maybe it’s worth doing it.’ My message to them is that I’m champion and I’ve never taken any PED. I would never do that.”

“I’ll retire early if my body can’t hold up. It’s just tough. You’re fighting through injuries. You just can’t do it. I just don’t want these younger fighters to think that that’s the way to become champion and make a legacy for yourself. I still firmly believe that taking PEDs is because you’re weak minded and you have insecurities about yourself. You’re trying to fill the void with PEDs. Winners, true winners, don’t have that.”