UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping on Wednesday backtracked on some of his more controversial comments that insinuated Georges St-Pierre was on steroids.
Though he didn’t say point blank that the former welterweight champion had been using steroids, Bisping posed the question on a recent edition of his podcast, pointing to the idea that St-Pierre could have been delaying their fight to make sure that he didn’t test positive for steroids when the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency came knocking. St-Pierre claimed to have an eye injury that needed time to heal.
“I don’t know whether it’s because Georges needs to clear the steroids out of his system before he enters the USADA testing pool,” Bisping posited. “I don’t know what the reason is, but that is definitely a potentially valid reason because you’ve got to get tested for six months before you come back and he did his best to delay it so maybe that was why.”
Words have consequences, and Bisping’s consequences came in the form of late-night talk show host Conan O’Brien.
Bisping was a guest on Conan on Wednesday, where the comedian confronted him about the steroid accusations.
“Okay, so I alluded, possibly, that he was trying to get the steroids out of his system, but honestly, I don’t think it’s that,” Bisping admitted when confronted with why he thought St-Pierre had delayed their fight.
“I don’t want to public say (that he is on steroids),” Bisping said, but Conan responded with “you just did.”
“Okay, I take that back,” Bisping replied, admitting that it was mostly “talking a little smack.”
USADA’s athlete test history indicates that St-Pierre has provided six test samples in 2017 with four of those samples being provided in the third quarter, which is the time frame immediately leading up to his fight with Bisping at UFC 217 on Nov. 4 in New York.
Bisping has been tested seven times in 2017, including three times during the third quarter.
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