5 UFC fighters who tested positive for PEDs and came clean about it

#2 Stephan Bonnar

Stephan Bonnar stated he only used steroids when he didn't expect to be fighting in the UFC again

Despite never holding a UFC title, Stephan Bonnar will forever be seen as a UFC legend thanks to his epic 2005 clash with Forrest Griffin at the TUF 1 finale. Sadly, ‘The American Psycho’ saw his UFC career end under difficult circumstances in 2012.

Offered a late-notice fight with then-UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in the main event of UFC 153, Bonnar accepted the booking, seeing it as a huge opportunity.

Unfortunately, in Bonnar’s own words, the whole thing “completely blew up in his face” when not only did he suffer a loss via TKO, but he also tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid drostanolone in the post-fight drug test.

Following the incident, which effectively ended his UFC career as he never fought in the octagon again, Bonnar was open about the circumstances that led to him using the banned substance.

" I'm going to do a cycle of steroids. My goal, to get big and strong. Don't have to worry about my cardio, don't have to worry about making weight, don't have to worry about getting drug tested. So that's what I did. I never thought I had to fight again."

The former TUF star explained that he decided to complete a cycle of steroids to help him build back up following a string of injuries, and never expected to fight at that point anyway, as he’d been on the shelf for a year at that stage.

The explanation did make sense, and it was also impressive to see a fighter confess to his error so candidly, when others would’ve flat out denied the offense.

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#1 Chael Sonnen

Chael Sonnen was never anything but open and honest about his use of performance enhancing drugs

Former UFC middleweight title challenger Chael Sonnen is arguably the most infamous user of performance enhancing drugs in the history of the promotion. ‘The American Gangster’ failed two drug tests during his time with the UFC, once in 2010 and once in 2014.

On both occasions, Sonnen was more than happy to frankly confess to his wrongdoing, although he always steadfastly refused to call himself an outright cheat.

Sonnen was initially flagged for abnormal testosterone to epitestosterone levels in 2010 following his loss to Anderson Silva in an epic UFC middleweight title fight at UFC 117.

And while he freely admitted to using synthetic testosterone, he also claimed that he’d done so due to a prescription for testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) that he simply hadn’t informed the California State Athletic Commission about.

In Sonnen’s words, he “took testosterone that was perfectly legal,” and claimed he’d “followed all the rules as (he) understood them.”

‘The American Gangster’ was hit with a one-year suspension for the infraction, but that didn’t stop him from once again testing positive for PEDs in 2014. This time, he was flagged for using a cocktail of substances that included human growth hormone (HGH) and EPO.

Once again, Sonnen was happy to hold his hands up to his mistake. Again, he claimed that the substances he’d used weren’t illegal and weren’t steroids – but stated that he understood that they were banned and thus he shouldn’t have touched them.

“First off, none of them were illegal, and none of them were steroids, but I've never offered a defense. I turned in my prescriptions. I got this from the doctor, this is valid stuff, but these are still against the rules. I knew it. I didn't think I'd be tested for another 44 days. I tried to game the system.”

However, Sonnen’s candor was not enough to rescue him from a lengthy two-year suspension from the Nevada State Athletic Commission, and it couldn’t rescue his UFC career either, as the promotion terminated his contract shortly after.