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Transcript of Josh Barnett interview on Inside MMA talking about steroids

By Zach Arnold | April 7, 2010

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Inside MMA can be seen each Friday on HDNet. When you read this interview transcript, keep this article in mind regarding Barnett waffling on whether or not he will appeal the drug test failure in California.

KENNY RICE: “You seem to have a shroud of controversy over you.”

JOSH BARNETT: “Hey, either be good or be good at it, right?”

KENNY RICE: “Well, OK, let’s start with the one. California. At this particular moment, you have no license to fight.”

JOSH BARNETT: “In California.”

KENNY RICE: “Can you fight elsewhere?”

JOSH BARNETT: “Absolutely.”

KENNY RICE: “So you’ve not been suspended, but you can’t fight in California.”

JOSH BARNETT: “Right. Well I just have, I don’t have a license in California.”

KENNY RICE: “If you go somewhere else, you’re going to have to take a drug test.”

JOSH BARNETT: “Sure. I actually, I’ve taken drug tests in California, in Nevada, in Japan, whatever. And you know as soon as they gave me a call the first time I said I’ll take a test right now.

‘Uhhhh, can’t do that.’

Really? I mean, normally they actually do their one section of testing before you fight. Actually before you fight like two days they all have us go to a hotel room and then they wait and then you can’t leave the room until you’ve actually finished peeing and they have inspectors and they all watch you.

It’s just the thing is, you know I complied to everything they ever asked for you know. I actually took the test on my own time, the first time, and then you know I could have waited like everybody else to take it and then whenever there was an issue, I said, we’ll take another one.

‘Uhhh, no, can’t do that.'”

KENNY RICE: “Now let’s go back. This was before the Affliction fight, we’re talking about. You come in to get your license, which is routine, and they give you a random drug test which they did, is that correct?”

JOSH BARNETT: “Right, I had my… Actually it wasn’t random, they just wanted me to do it for licensing purposes. I did it the first time when I fought, me and Sylvia both did it, um when we fought on the first Affliction show, they can ask that if they want to for licensing purposes in California. And so, when I need to get re-licensed, I just had my manager (Shannon Hooper) call them up and I go, “Well what do you need me to do? What tests do you want me to take?” I mean MRIs, CT Scans, whatever, besides blood, and what else do you want me to do?

“Oh, yeah, well, can you take the Urinalysis?”

Yeah, sure. Well, do you want us to go to Quest (Diagnostics) again?

“No, actually what we want you to do is we want you to go where there is commissioners so you have to go to an event.”

All right, well, when’s the nearest one, when’s the next one?

‘Well, there’s a boxing match going on. So go up to this Holiday Inn and do it.’

Whatever, fine.”

KENNY RICE: “So all this falls, you know, you don’t fight Fedor then as was much anticipated. First off, are you on steroids? Were you taking steroids at the time?”

JOSH BARNETT: “No. If I was taking steroids for one, why would I go take a test then? Why wouldn’t I wait until the end you know if I was going to try and you know outsmart a system, why wouldn’t I wait until before the fight or to take the test at the last possible second, you know, so I could give myself all the time to do whatever, why wouldn’t I do that?”

KENNY RICE: “What happened with the test, though? Why was the test a failure according to the California State Athletic Commission?”

JOSH BARNETT: “Well, you know what… I have a nice body of work and I’ve had a great team working on some things and you know it’s taking a long time partially because we’ve requested information and it took them actually a long time to get it to us. So we say, well you know we want this from the UCLA labs, we want this, we want that, you know it’s a very long process in actually getting the information actually to us. And then as of us last time when I had my own team fly out for a hearing and they said that apparently I needed to be there in person, which I don’t believe I was notified, I don’t have any letter but there could be a mistake.”

[Barnett was wrestling Bob Sapp in Tokyo, Japan for the IGF promotion on the day his team was scheduled to meet with the CSAC.]

BAS RUTTEN: “That urine test you had to do… Could you have done that a day before? Would they have allowed you? What if you would have said, because you know you’re telling us you know I could have played the system, I could have done it like a day before, would they have allowed you to do that?”

JOSH BARNETT: “Mmmhmm, yeah, normally that’s the case. Normally there’s like a timeline that they use and they might test you, they’ll test you before the fight, like a couple of days before, and then you might be selected also to test afterwards. Now I was in a championship bout so they probably would have tested me both times. But you know when I fought in Nevada for PRIDE, I actually had to do my own testing first. I mean I had to go and find a laboratory to get them results, which is not easy, let me tell you that. And then I ended up having to do it in Nevada at the end, so I ended up taking two tests or whatever, passed them both, then took a test for them afterwards, passed that one, and then, you know, not a problem. I took a test before and after at the first Affiction in California, I didn’t have any problem with those, either.”

BAS RUTTEN: “There’s probably they say that could a combination [contamination?] of supplements, right?”

JOSH BARNETT: “That’s possible. You know, it’s up as high as 20% of supplements on the market are tainted and it can be as simple as this. There’s a, I’m not going to name any companies that I don’t want to like throw under the bus, but they had some trouble with the FDA for some of their supplements including actual anabolics in them. But even if they are too close, it’s as simple as this — let’s say that company makes multivitamins, it doesn’t have anything to do with any sort of prohormone or anabolics, anything… if they run that multivitamin through the same hopper and it wasn’t cleaned well enough that they run the same stuff that could cause you to have a positive test, that stuff can now become contaminated within the same product.”

Topics: Affliction, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

8 Responses to “Transcript of Josh Barnett interview on Inside MMA talking about steroids”

  1. Jemaleddin says:

    Wow. You know who did steroids? That guy.

  2. Mark says:

    This was a pitiful attempt to explain away doping. Come on, three times you took a supplement that somehow had enough PEDs in it to register on two tests? I like Josh Barnett, but if this is the best he could come up with he shouldn’t have said anything at all. This would be the criminal equivalent of saying “I never murdered anybody, but three times somebody dropped dead of an unnatural death right in front of me. It was the damnedest thing!”

    He’s claiming ignorance of his licensing situation, that other US commissions would sanction him with the California suspension in tact. They have never done that; a one state suspension is a nationwide suspension.

    Couldn’t he go the old pro wrestling route of “I took steroids for an injury only”? The whole “well, I knew I was going to be tested so I would have taken them after the drug test if I was doing it” excuse is a joke. Anybody who knows remotely anything about PEDs know nobody would ever do that because it would be useless to not have them during the bulk of your training.

    Like I said, I won’t stop being a Josh Barnett fan or anything, but if this is the best he can do to talk his way out of trouble, then he’s not much of a “worker”.

  3. […] Fight Opinion has a transcript of this interview with Josh Barnett addressing his positive steroid test from last summer. His defense seems to be, “why would I take the test if I was on steroids?” Barnett’s appeal with the CSAC has been delayed four times now and his last opportunity is rapidly approaching . Appeal or not, he’ll be eligible to re-apply for a license in June, so he may just forgo the appeal process and wait till then. […]

  4. Zack says:

    I wish Josh would do a tell all interview with a respected journalist where there are no time constraints and he can get 100% of his side out in the public.

  5. Bob says:

    lol.. The “anti-spam word” to post this was “juiced”… Irony huh?

  6. David M says:

    It’s sad that one of the most talented HWs in mma history has wasted away his fucking career on steroids and pro wrestling.

    • Jemaleddin says:

      a) MMA History isn’t that long – Josh is busy making sure he’s not a part of it.
      b) How nice that the “Anti-spam word” is “worked” this time.

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