TUF 25 Finalist Dhiego Lima Comments on Winner Jesse Taylor’s Doping Fail

According to MMAJunkie, Dhiego Lima spoke about his TUF 25 finale loss to Jesse Taylor, who was flagged by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) after estrogen blocker clomiphen was caught in a test. Taylor has accepted a one-year suspension for failing the out-of-competition drug test. Lima had the following to say…

On Taylor’s Failure: “For our fight, he knew our anti-doping would only be a normal pee test. So he must have done a cycle for that. And then, one month later, he flunked with a post-cycle drug. Of course he was taking stuff to fight me.”

On Taylor being So Strong in Thier Fight: “That was on my mind – ‘Why was that guy so much stronger than me?’” Lima said. “I trained so hard, and the guy tossed me around like I was nothing? How? It’s not possible. I knew how strong he was in the house. So for me, it would be the same at the fight. “I did what I had to do to win, but come fight time, he was like three times stronger than me. I got depressed, you know. I thought about the fight so much, and I couldn’t understand. I knew it. I told everyone after the fight that he was too strong, that there was no way that was possible. And there you go.”

On How It Hurts Him: “It wasn’t just any fight,” Lima said. “It was a finale. There was $250,000 (it actually ended up amounting to $290,000) on the line. I have three kids. I trained very hard for this fight. I suffered so much. Some days, I couldn’t even walk because I was training so hard. I knew about his strength. I knew about his wrestling. I prepared for everything. I trained with him for six weeks. He was on my team. “I knew what I had to do to win the fight. I did everything right. I passed my post-fight tests. And then I hear the guy flunked a test a month later, knowing he did a cycle for my fight? This hurts me a lot. I suffered so much for this fight, and the guy cheats to beat me? It pisses me off.”

OnUSADA: “USADA is trying to clean up the sport, so they need to see that he took a post-cycle drug,” Lima said. “Who doesn’t see that? It’s common sense. They need to take care of me. And I believe they will. They have to give me his contract. We’ll see. He’s suspended, so he won’t even fight. I’m here. I passed my tests. I’m training hard. I’ll fight anyone.”

On Guys Taking The Easy Way Out: “These guys don’t wanna go through the suffering, they want the easier way. The thing that helps with performance and recovery. And these guys need to be banned. For a guy like me, who’s never taken anything, who diets every day, who trains hard, who goes through all the hardships, it’s so unfair to us. It’s ridiculous. These guys need to be banned. They need to go away. It makes me angry.”