Mirko Cro Cop on his two-year USADA suspension: ‘That is not justice’

Mirko Cro Cop was a victim of his own honesty. Before a UFC South Korea matchup last year, Mr. Filipovic admitted to USADA that he was taking HGH to heal up a shoulder injury in time to compete against Anthony Hamilton. Since HGH is banned, Cro Cop was pulled from the card and eventually given a two-year suspension – despite his actual tests coming back negative.

As a guest on The MMA Hour, Cro Cop didn’t think that was fair at all (via MMA Fighting):

“The whole thing that happened with USADA, it just isn’t supposed to happen,” Cro Cop said. “It just isn’t supposed to happen. I could be warned. I could be, at the end of the day, suspended a few months. Six months, whatever. But when your test comes completely negative and you suspend that person for two years, the same sentence like some other fighters who was caught after the fight, so they did the fight under doping, under prohibited substances that was found in their body. And they get the same suspension? That isn’t justice.”

He is especially annoyed with his term in light of recent fighters like Brock Lesnar, who competed at UFC 200 and made a paycheck but was busted after the fact:

“They were caught after the fight,” Cro Cop said. “So they put the money in their pocket, they fought, they earned the money and they get the same sentence like I did. It’s not fair. But let’s not talk about it anymore. I just had to mention it. From my point of view, that is not justice.”

He also re-iterated his points from an interview last month, where he claimed that USADA offered to reduce his suspension if he ratted someone else out:

“Offering a fighter that the suspension will be reduced if I snitched on someone, it is below every level,” Cro Cop said. “That’s how I see it. If I’m guilty punish me, but don’t come with that kind of offer. And if you punish me for being completely negative, which means i didn’t use any prohibited substance, you cannot give me the same punish [as others].”

Cro Cop never returned to the UFC after the suspension, instead choosing to retire from MMA. He came out of retirement last month though, signing with RIZIN. He will compete in their openweight tournament, and has a first-round bye so his next fight will take place in December.