We already know that Ronda Rousey isn’t down with Cris Cyborg’s penchant for using performance-enhancing drugs, and now we know that the UFC’s female bantamweight champion thinks it is a criminal offence.
On Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour, Rousey was asked (again) about a potential match against the former Strikeforce and current Invicta featherweight champion. Rousey once again commented on Cyborg’s 2012 suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs, but this time took a different tactic.
“If [a fight with Cyborg] happens or not, whatever,” Rousey said. “I’ll do it, I’ll beat her, it’s just, I mean, that girl in my eyes should be charged with attempted negligent homicide. Coming into the cage with performance-enhancing drugs is the equivalent of walking in there with a weapon.”
The key is the damage that PEDs can do in MMA. While using steroids allows athletes in other sports to simply upgrade their own performance (hitting a ball harder or stealing a base faster), in MMA, somebody who uses them could severely injure their opponent.
“The only reason we’re even allowed to do MMA is, given potential for how it is right now, we can say it is safe,” Rousey said. “But if you keep putting PEDs in people, it’s going to become less and less safe, and the day somebody dies in that Octagon, and the other person tests positive for steroids, you’re going to have your first murder case in MMA and that is going to be the kind of thing that destroys the sport. It could destroy the sport forever.”
