5 fighters who were expected to be clean but weren't

#1 Jon Fitch

Despite speaking out against PEDs, Jon Fitch tested positive in 2015

During his nearly eight-year tenure in the UFC, few fighters were so vehemently against PED use as Jon Fitch. He spoke out on numerous occasions against his fellow fighters who had tested positive and in 2013, ranted against the use of testosterone replacement therapy in MMA, claiming that at 35, his own testosterone levels were as high as they’d ever been, because he’d “never wrecked his body with steroids”.

Prior to his 2011 fight with BJ Penn, Fitch even turned to veganism and came into the fight looking in phenomenal shape, and given his UFC career had stretched back all the way to 2005 with no positive tests, there was nothing to suggest he was a PED user.

So it came as a massive shock in 2015 when Fitch tested positive for elevated testosterone levels – likely caused by the use of anabolic agents – following a fight in the World Series of Fighting promotion against Rousimar Palhares.

Following the positive test, Fitch was slapped with a nine-month suspension by the California State Athletic Commission. He has never really addressed the controversy, and since his return, he’s won four fights and has not tested positive since.

The final word must go to Fitch’s former foe, Penn, though – who taunted the wrestler on Twitter by calling him a “coward” while insinuating that the only “PED’s” he’d ever taken were “beer and hot dogs”. Talk about a burn!