UFC legend Chael Sonnen recently made headline after making some wild claims that NBA star LeBron James allegedly uses EPO, which is a well-known Performance Enhancing Drug (PED), know its meaning
LeBron James recently became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer after breaking the record set by NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Explained what is EPO and its meaning after Chael Sonnen claims Lebron James uses performance enhancing drug
Former UFC Middleweight title contender and ESPN MMA analyst, Chael Sonnen, has alleged that LeBron James uses PEDs, specifically EPO to continue his playing career.
“We have the same drug guy, I know exactly what he takes.” pic.twitter.com/eRteeqGpcz
— Vision4theBlind (@Michael3147) March 9, 2023
Sources: There's fear Lakers star LeBron James is likely to miss an extended period of time with his right foot injury. James suffered the injury in Sunday's win over Dallas, played through it, and belief is he will be sidelined an indefinite amount.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 28, 2023
LeBron also had his alleged kindergarten photo going viral this season, before sustaining a foot injury against the Dallas Mavericks on February 26. He has been sidelined ever-since and is expected to miss about three weeks after his evaluation on March 2.
His injury will also see him miss vital games as the Lakers push for a playoff berth. In short, LeBron has had a hell of season so far. As such, the recent claims about him using EPO and PEDs add more fuel to his recent situation.
Chael Sonnen makes wild claims about Lebron James taking EPO
LeBron James is currently 38-years-old and his NBA career has so far spanned for two decades. He has achieved nothing short of incredible so far in his career.
As such, UFC legend Chael Sonnen recent wild claims about LeBron James using EPO comes as a big shock. Erythropoietin (EPO) is a Performance Enhancing Drug (PED) with a long history of abuse in sports. Athletes competing in endurance events in particular commonly used the drug.
EPO is known to artificially boost red blood cell count and athletic performance. The NBA highly forbids the use of EPO.
Sonnen made the claims recently when he appeared on Andrew Schulz’s Flagrant podcast alongside Akaash Singh.
He stated:
Other basketball players will hear about what LeBron does and go, ‘That doesn’t matter.’ If you knew what these performance enhancers did, you’d know it does matter. We have the same drug guy, I know exactly what he’s doing.”
“EPO [Erythropoietin] matters, it’s the reason LeBron takes it. It matters. EPO increases your red blood cells, which gives you the endurance to play all game long… It’s the king of performance enhancers. EPO is king to everything. That’s why cyclists do it.”
LeBron has an ideal track record to back him up
Despite Sonnen making some rather interesting claims, LeBron has one of the cleanest records in the NBA. Ever since joining the NBA in 2003, James has been the perfect role model by never setting his foot wrong on or off the court. In fact, Sonnen’s claims puts James massively out of character.
Moreover, the NBA is incredibly very strict on PED use and often conducts random blood tests on players. During their joint anti-drug program, the NBA and NBPA shared:
The program subjects each player to no more than nine random, unannounced drug tests during each season and off-season — up to six urine tests and three blood tests.”
As such, this shows that chances of LeBron or any other player to pass one of these drug tests if they were really using PEDs is highly unlikely. Moreover, LeBron missed 20+ games a year across four of his five Lakers seasons and is also currently out injured. If he was, indeed using EPO, then his declining injury record is a direct contradiction to that.
Sonnen an expert troll
Chael Sonnen is a well-respected ESPN MMA analyst and a former contender of the UFC Middleweight title. Besides that, he is also one of the best trash-talkers to feature in the sports. He is a fan favorite and an expert troll, and some speculate that his claims about LeBron is just his latest attempt to cause a stir.
This is further back up by the fact that he recently claimed Jon Jones was injured before UFC 285. Much to the delight of Jones’ fans though, he went on to win the heavyweight title quite easily.