MMA-världen skakades om rejält vid beskedet om att Anderson Silva åkte fast för dopning i samband med sin match mot Nick Diaz under UFC 183 och många har därefter hävdat att hans rykte och legendstatus har blivit förstörda.
Nu berättar Silvas tidigare motståndare från titelmatchen under UFC 77, Rich Franklin, om sin syn på det inträffade och kallar Silva för sportens nya Lance Armstrong.
Det här berättade Franklin, via ”MMAMania”:
I mean I feel bad for him, honestly. Anderson’s had this long run and then of course when something like this happens the fans are going to start asking ’well how long has he been on this stuff?’ And for him to have such a run the way that he did and to come back from an injury the way that he did, it’s just, it’s a shame to think that that is going to tarnish his reputation. Like, that that’s what he’ll leave his career on. Even if he doesn’t leave now, that’s the overriding factor that’s going to be remembered. Much like Lance Armstrong. He won all those Tour De France’s, but as soon as he tested positive for PED’s, that’s what people remember; is all that stuff and you tend to forget the accomplishments that the guy had, and so I feel bad for him in that sense. And then you start wondering things like ’well how long was he on that?’ Like because there are guys in this sport, they know how to play the system, they know how to take their chemicals and beat the test somehow. And I don’t know how. I don’t know how they do it, like with masking agents and I’m not saying that that’s the case with Anderson, but if people are going to start questioning that and wondering that, and it’s just….like honestly, my heart bleeds for the guy man.
Silva har förnekat att han gjort någonting fel och menar att han inte vet hur han kan ha testat positivt.
