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Ric “Nature Boy” Flair (real name Richard Fliehr), one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, recently defended Brock Lesnar from accusations that his UFC and WWE success is due to his use of anabolic steroids and performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). Flair shared his comments in the third episode of his brand new podcast called “The Rick Flair Show” on July 27, 2016.
Flair didn't care if Lesnar was using steroids or not. Steroids were not what made Lesnar a good wrestler or a good MMA athlete. Flair made an analogy between steroids in baseball and steroids in MMA. He argued that steroids may help with strength and power in baseball but would not help hand-eye coordination.
“After watching that [fight at UFC 200], I don't care what anybody was on. Brock Lesnar dominated [Mark Hunt],” said Flair. “It's like people talking about PEDs with baseball players, right? I promise you, they do not help hand/eye coordination. If you hit the ball, it might go farther, but there's nothing you can put in the needle and inject in your body that's going to make your hand/eye coordination [better]. I could take steroids for 150 years and not hit a 100 mile [an hour] fastball.”
Of course, Flair's analogy was far from perfect. Strength and power could never compensate for poor hand-eye coordination in baseball. Few people would argue otherwise. Neither could steroid-assisted strength compensate for poor skills or lack of talent in MMA. However, many people think that steroids offer greater benefit in MMA than baseball.
Flair suggested that steroid use may be motivated more by a concern for improvement in physical appearance than an improvement in performance. And while this could certainly be seen as true in the world of professional wrestling, MMA athletes are inevitably seeking a competitive advantage when they turn to PEDs.
“If anything, over the years, PEDs were used for appearance sakes and God knows I have some huge cosmetic issues. I should have been on it forever,” Flair said. “But I can tell you this: this in no way, shape, or form makes Brock Lesnar a star. Does that make sense? I mean, he's a huge, huge player there.”
The bottom line in Flair's argument is that steroids didn't make Lesnar a successful professional wrestler. They didn't make him a talented MMA athlete. They didn't make him a superstar in the WWE. They didn't make him a UFC champion. Credit should be given where credit is due. And according to Flair, more credit is due to Lesnar than any PEDs he may or may not have been taking.
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