Mikey Musumeci just made the explosive allegation that there are kids among some of the biggest teams in the BJJ world that are currently taking PEDs. Although that might seem unimaginable at first, it’s worth remembering that the vast majority of Jiu-Jitsu events do not test for any PEDs. This has led to a culture of clear acceptance among many in the sport and several elite competitors have been open about their usage in the past. It’s predictable then that this culture would permeate throughout every level of the sport and sooner or later, it’s going to reach the youngest involved. In fact, that’s one of the main reasons that many people like Musumeci are so adamantly against the usage of PEDs.
Yet, the prevalence of PEDs remains one of the most controversial issues in the BJJ world today. It’s something that comes up on a pretty regular basis in any discussion about the sport and that’s unlikely to change unless testing becomes more widespread. As it stands, only the IBJJF tests competitors and even then it’s only the black belt champions at a handful of major events. Mikey Musumeci recently sat down for an interview with MMA legend Demetrious Johnson and naturally the conversation turned to PEDs, which led to the shocking revelation about kids in the sport:
“The problem is in Jiu-Jitsu you have kids taking it, you know? Like 12, 13 years old. I don’t know if in MMA it’s this bad, but in Jiu-Jitsu? There’s kid’s programs, like the biggest teams in the world, they have the kids taking steroids… And people know and they just ignore it, they turn their back to it. That’s something that has to change in Jiu-Jitsu as we get a bigger sport.”
The full interview with Mikey Musumeci where he claims there are kids in BJJ taking PEDs was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of Demetrious Johnson:
