Felipe Pena recently shared his thoughts on increased PEDs testing in Jiu-Jitsu and although he supports the idea, he believes that competitor pay should come first. It’s a stance that will likely prove popular with his fellow elite grapplers, for at least two reasons. Many of the best Jiu-Jitsu competitors in the world are open about taking PEDs and of course, all of them would appreciate being able to earn more money in their career. Pena himself has even failed a pair of PEDs tests at the IBJJF World Championship, testing positive for Testosterone in 2014 and then for Clomiphene and its metabolites in 2021.
When Pena was asked about the idea of increasing testing for PEDs, he echoed Gordon Ryan’s concerns about how expensive it would be:
“I think there’s no problem with doping testing. But, for example, as they told me, doping testing is very expensive. Doing it well is expensive.”
Obviously any promotion that finds the money for a proper, rigorous testing program must have a pretty big amount of profit there to part with. As Pena pointed out, there are other ways to spend that money:
“Why don’t you first take that prize money and distribute it to the athletes here at the big events, which are the biggest stars of the event? Do you understand? Don’t you think it’s fair to first take that money and distribute it to the athletes?”
He the shared some insight in to the world of a professional grappler, and the financial reality of competing at the highest level:
“Let’s say the first place gets 10,000. The athlete spends maybe 6,000 of that on camp, travel, food, supplementation, physiotherapy. Then you still have to pay taxes. You’re going to be a world champion, you’re going to be the best in the world in that sport. How much did you earn? You put it in your account and it’s maybe equivalent to 10,000 (Brazilian) reais.”
The full interview with Felipe Pena where he explains his stances on PEDs and competitor pay was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of Connect Cast:
