MMA icons and former UFC champions Frank Mir and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson opened up concerning the rampant steroid use in beloved Japanese battle promotion PRIDE FC.
Joined by Tito Ortiz on The HJR Experiment, Jackson and Mir regarded again on their early days in combined martial arts, particularly their time competing below the PRIDE banner the place steroid testing was non-existent.
“I beloved combating in Japan, I favored what they stood for,” Jackson mentioned. “They was extra about leisure in Japan and UFC, it was extra all the time about who’s one of the best. In Japan they didn’t care about who’s one of the best. Who was essentially the most thrilling? That was my type, I favored thrilling individuals.
“Lots of people, they assume the rationale PRIDE fighters didn’t do nicely once they got here to the states was as a result of steroids,” Jackson continued. “As a result of in Japan, they didn’t take a look at for steroids. I keep in mind within the guidelines assembly, they’d provide you with a sheet of paper — ‘Right here’s the foundations.’ Very first thing on the paper was, ‘We don’t take a look at for anabolic steroids.’ And I’d by no means heard of anabolic steroids, and I used to be like, ‘What is that this anabolical steroid?’ And a few fighters checked out me [laughing].”
‘Rampage’ Jackson Feedback on Mir’s Declare That ‘All people’ in PRIDE Was Doing Meth
Frank Mir chimed in, claiming that there have been rumors of fighters often taking meth earlier than stepping contained in the ring.
“The rumor that we all the time heard over right here was that everyone over there was doing meth,” Frank Mir mentioned. “Since you’d see Wanderlei [Silva] throw 500 punches per spherical, you’d see guys simply brawling and going nuts.”
PRIDE could have been greater than lenient when it got here to steroid use, however the promotion did often take a look at for leisure medication making a pandemic of meth utilization extremely unlikely.
“Most likely EPO,” Jackson replied. “I feel they had been in all probability doing EPO. It was rumored that ‘Ninja’ and ‘Shogun’ [Murilo and Mauricio Rua] was on EPO as a result of they was going loopy and by no means bought drained. Our rounds had been 10 minutes, the primary spherical was 10 minutes. So, I used to be in nice form, however I wouldn’t go loopy.
“They take a look at for, like, weed and like, cocaine and no matter,” Jackson added. “They take a look at for that stuff, however they didn’t take a look at for steroids.”
