No matter what Kayla Harrison or her team says, Nothing will convince Julianna Peña that her opponent to the title at UFC 316 is bending the system.
Since the stars were aligned so that Harrison (18-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) fight for gold on the June 7 billboard at the prudential center in Newark, New Jersey (ESPN+ Pay-per-sur), The current Peña champion (11-5 MMA, 8-3 UFC) has not been shy with drug use accusations to improve performance.
Peña is convinced that the two -time Olympic gold medalist Harrison has been cheating long before he was successful in MMA's competition, And although there are no positive results for prohibited substances over more than a decade of documented evidence, that does not change the champion's opinion.
«They act as if there had never been an Olympic athlete who had been arrested for steroids. Then you see the documentary of Icaro and see how far these Russians and other equipment arrive to pass the drug tests because they know they would be in a state of euphoria if they underwent a real drug test. People who do this kind of thing are so intelligent that they know perfectly: how to leave, when to leave, when to enter and when not ».
After Peña's latest comments, Harrison's chief coach, Mike Brown from American Top Team, He said that all accusations are completely unfounded and that his student is a unique athlete.
Peña admits that he would probably retract the subject if he were alone in perspective. However, He said he analyzes the opinions of boxing fans and other members of the MMA community and has a hard time convincing himself that he is wrong.
«In all my career at the UFC, since 2013, the use of substances to improve performance (ped) or steroids It has never been a hot topic nor has it been discussed about any opponent he has had. This is the first and only time. So I'm not the only one. That she answers, because I think everyone sees the same as me and it is I who says it openly, but you are asking me questions to me. They should make them to her. And I don't care how much I say that tests have been done and that it is clean, that also said Lance Armstrong, and you would have believed him every time he said it. He did not. It is one of those things in which people are intelligent. They know how to deceive the system and it is a question that she must answer, not me.
Peña, 35, is clear that, unless Harrison, 34, is removed from UFC 316 by external forces, They will fight for the belt regardless of their opinion. That said, he admits that he could face the first defense of his second title of the 135 pounds with more confidence to compete on equal terms.
