Bisping calls out Silva for PED use: 'He's been doing it his whole career'
Michael Bisping believes that Anderson Silva's failed drug test from last year was not an isolated incident.
At a media scrum Thursday ahead of their main event meeting at UFC Fight Night 84 on Feb. 27, Bisping walked a fine line between honoring the man many consider to be the greatest fighter of all time and disparaging his accomplishments.
"Listen, Anderson's a great fighter. He's achieved many, many things," said Bisping. "But the fact of the matter is he tested positive for performance enhancing drugs in his last fight. Apparently, that was the first time he's been tested, that's what he said, his words not mine. A cynic (would be led to) believe that he was using his whole career.
"So shame on him. How he calls himself a martial artist and then takes performance enhancing drugs is beyond me. It really is."
There is no hard evidence to link Silva to any performance enhancing drug use prior to a positive test report from Feb. 11, 2015 that resulted in a year-long suspension for the former UFC middleweight champion. Silva admitted to using sexual enhancement drugs as well as medication to help him with stress.
The excuse doesn't hold up for Bisping and he speculated that being busted for the first time at such a late stage in Silva's career is evidence enough to cast a shadow on his whole legacy.
"At 39 years old, having the career that he's had, being Anderson Silva, the mighty Anderson Silva that's destroyed everybody, that has this finishing ability - don't tell me at 39 years old somebody's going to say, 'Here, try steroids,'" said Bisping. "And at that age, having the career and having the legacy that he has, that he's going to decide to put all that at risk? No, he would have the confidence and state of mind to know, 'I don't need that. I am Anderson Silva. I've achieved all these things, I don't need to cheat.'
"But he didn't do that. That's because he was doing it his whole career. And if you look at him in PRIDE, he weighed in at 168 pounds. He now walks around at 40 pounds heavier. Do the math."