Gallery Photos: Best of Fabricio Werdum view 28 images

Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum currently is serving a two-year suspension handed down by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency earlier this month.

Werdum (23-8-1 MMA, 11-5 UFC) tested positive for the steroid trenbolone and its metabolite epitrenbolone in an out-of-competition test in April. His suspension is retroactive to May 22, meaning he will be eligible to return in May 2020.

But another USADA story has been a bigger part of the MMA news cycle of late, and that’s Jon Jones’ impending return after getting a 15-month suspension that was retroactive to July 2017. And part of that news was that Jones’ suspension was reduced when he agreed to help USADA with “delivery of substantial assistance” – in other words, give USADA information on someone else’s anti-doping violation.

So even prior to Jones’ 15-month sentence, he had a 30-month reduction from USADA lined up. He was facing a potential four-year ban, but decreased it for what critics have essentially called snitching on fellow fighters. (Jones’ manager denied the fighter will be ratting out other fighters.)

Werdum, in an interview with Combate.com, though, said he was asked by USADA to do the same thing Jones did – and he declined.

“What surprised me the most was at the end of the interview, it was something that I found absurd,” Werdum told Combate. “They said, ‘Werdum, here’s the thing: If you tell on someone …’ It was what you could call ‘delacao premiada’ (plea bargain). ‘Werdum, if you tell on someone’ – using the slang, if you’re a snitch – ‘we’ll shorten your suspension. Because you’re going to have to pay something. Even if we find the substance in any of the products we test, even if we find it, you’ll have to pay something.’

“… For the guy to make me an offer like that, to snitch on someone, that goes against my principles. I can’t tell on someone. Even if I knew, I wouldn’t do it. How am I going to snitch on someone to make it better for me, to lower my suspension or whatever?”

Werdum said his interview with USADA was a five-hour ordeal at a hotel in Denver. He said he flew from Los Angeles, and USADA representatives flew from New York.

“I felt like a criminal, actually,” Werdum said. “I know I didn’t do anything, but it felt like I was a criminal, like (I was talking to) the police. Two USADA guys, a detective analyzing me all the time. Both were USADA. I felt so bad, you know? Like, I didn’t do anything. Why am I doing this? And it lasted five hours.

“There even came a point when they were like, ‘Werdum, let’s rest a little. Do you want to rest?’ I said, ‘No, I don’t want to rest. I want to answer whatever you ask – I have nothing to hide.'”

Maybe more than anything, though, Werdum is uncertain why his suspension is two years when someone like Jones – on his second offense – got just 15 months. And while the Brazilian former champion didn’t drop Jones’ name, it seems pretty obvious it was Jones he was referencing.

“I’m not going to name names, but I saw that recently a guy who was supposed to have caught four years ended up catching 15 months,” Werdum said. “And I caught 24 months. How come? If it was his second or third offense? Is it two weights and two measures? How does that work? It’s very strange, really.”

Werdum, who will be on the verge of turning 43 when he is eligible to return, said he wants to keep fighting – though retirement, naturally, will pop into his mind.

“I want to keep fighting,” he said. “I’m training every day – of course, I’m not training with the same intensity of when I have a fight. … I’ve thought of fighting in a different country. I’m going to see what I’ll do now. It’s hard now – it’s all very recent. I still have to talk to the UFC. I’m still working on TV as a commentator (with the UFC’s Spanish-language broadcasts). There are many things happening and I need to take a moment to really think, because sometimes I’ll say something, and I’ll regret it later.

“… I’ll have to see what I’ll do. I have two more fights in the UFC. How long will I have to wait? Will I have to wait out these two years? Will I be able to fight in another country? What will I do? I don’t know yet. I’m still indecisive. I still have a lot of thinking to do.”

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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