GSP's coach Firas Zahabi "very suspicious" of Israel Adesanya ahead of UFC 281!

Renowned MMA coach Firas Zahabi suspects Israel Adesanya of being on performance enhancing drugs.

Ahead of his fight with Paulo Costa at UFC 253, Adesanya came under fire for a visibly swollen pectoral muscle. Gynecomastia, as it’s known medically, is a common sign of steroid use. “The Last Stylebender” responded to the resulting wave of criticism with an unsatisfying explanation that left fans with more questions than answers.

“Pec-gate. No, (I don’t have an update),” Adesanya told ESPN. “My pituitary gland was checked, hormone levels are fine, estrogen and testosterone. Yesterday we had an ultrasound and a mammogram. I had one for the first time. To be honest it might have just been unhealthy living a little bit. Like smoking weed, that’s what the doctor from the UFC said. He said I need to stop but I’m not stopping, I’m just going to slow down on the smoking weed.”

Yet another possible cause could be repeated punches to the chest causing tissue damage. However, Zahabi, who most notably coached the UFC legend Georges St-Pierre, believes there’s a much simpler explanation.

“Guys, I find it incredibly strange,” Zahabi said on the Tristar Gym YouTube channel. “Like, for me, I’ve only ever seen – guys get punched in the chest all the time, I’ve never seen a guy walk in a ring, walk out with an inflamed breast.

With the comment, Zahabi is hinting at possible steroid use by the middleweight champion. What makes it especially suspicious for the renowned coach is the sudden onset of the condition.

“In my mind, there’s only one reason for this. There’s only one group that has this problem, there’s only one group. What other possibility could there be? People are putting pictures of him in his earlier years, he doesn’t have it, doesn’t have it, then all of a sudden, boom, he’s got it. And for me, I have no explanation, guys. I have no idea. It’s very suspicious. Very suspicious to me.”

“The Last Stylebender” Adesanya will collide with former kickboxing rival Alex Pereira at UFC 281. If Adesanya retains his title in the fight, he’ll have avenged two straight losses in kickboxing to the Brazilian. “Poatan” Pereira is the only man to have knocked Adesanya out throughout a storied fighting career. Unsurprisingly, Adesanya considers the fight to be personal. A win this weekend could cement his position as one of the greatest fighters of all time.