Corey Anderson Says IV Ban Won’t Bother Him

In an interview with MMA Junkie, Corey Anderson (5-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) said that the USADA’s ban on IV rehydration, which goes into effect on October 1, will not bother him at all. Fighters will no longer be able to hook themselves to an IV with sodium chloride, which increases the amount of weight they can cut before a fight. Here are highlights:

On if the UFC should allow IV rehydration: “We’re grown men now. You can make your own choice. In high school, it was different. The kids are under 18, and they don’t understand the weight cut. College is a little different; they’re a little more adult-like, but at the same time, they don’t know what’s going to happen to their bodies in the future. In MMA, you’re usually, 25, 35, maybe 40 years old. If you want to kill yourself, that’s your choice. I think the UFC should let them do it. If you go out there and have fainting spells, you knew what you were doing when you cut the weight. Now, I hope no one dies from it. I’m not saying that. But if something happens, it’s like they say: You do the crime, you do the time.”

On previously using IVs himself: “It doesn’t bother me at all. I’ve prepared myself to go to 205 (pounds) whether I have an IV or without one. I’ve used an IV the last two fights. But if I don’t need it, I ain’t going to do it. I don’t have to have it.”

On those who abuse IV use: “You see a lot of people abusing it. They do a body fat test that says they can only go to 160 (pounds), but then they go 155, or 157, but they can only go to 170, and they put on sauna suits or get in the hot tub, killing themselves until they look like skeletons. Then the next day, they get nose bleeds or have fainting spells because they abuse themselves.”

Anderson will fight Jan Blachowicz (18-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC) this Saturday at UFC 191, which airs on PPV.