The USADA has allegedly been playing dirty by offering a reduction in IBJJF suspension to athletes who fail PEDs tests, in return for them snitching on other competitors. While there is some precedent for these kinds of deals being made, it’s still something relatively new to the BJJ world. Marcio ‘Pe De Pano’ Cruz revealed the news on a recent episode of ‘A Hora do Jiu Jitsu’:
“I met two guys who failed the test here at the (IBJJF) Miami Open. The two confirmed to me that it was offered to them to lessen the penalty, but to have to snitch on someone. The guys just got caught at the No Gi World Cup.”
What Cruz is referring to is the fact that Roberto ‘Cyborg’ Abreu, Jonnatas Gracie, Igor Feliz, Henrique Ceconi, and Vagner Rocha all failed PEDs tests or refused to give samples after the IBJJF no gi world championship 2022 and were all suspended from IBJJF competition for three years as a result. The fact that all of their suspensions are for the exact same period of time would suggest that none of them took USADA up on the alleged offer. Cruz explains how he found out that this was going on too:
“I found two of those five (athletes who failed PEDs tests). I told the story of (Fabricio) Werdum and they said it just happened to them too.”
What Cruz is referring to is the previous allegation that Werdum was offered a similar deal to snitch on other competitors in exchange for a reduction in punishment when he failed a PEDs test, although his suspension was from UFC competition instead of IBJJF. It’s not an uncommon tactic in the world of professional sports either, with the idea behind it being that it’s better to catch as many competitors using PEDs as possible and remove them from the competition pool.
The full episode of ‘A Hora do Jiu Jitsu’ where Marcio ‘Pe De Pano’ Cruz reveals that the USADA allegedly offered a reduction in IBJJF suspension in returning for snitching on other athletes was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of MMA Hoje.
