LeBron James is being slammed with serious accusations from former UFC fighter Chael Sonnen.
Sonnen, who got busted for using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) while in the UFC, recently went on the “Flagrant” podcast and accused LeBron James of blood doping with erythropoietin (EPO). According to Sonnen, he and LeBron “have the same drug guy.”
The drug “stimulates the production of red blood cells in bone marrow and regulates the concentration of red blood cells and haemoglobin in the blood,” the Australian Academy of Science explains. “This is useful for athletes, since red blood cells shuttle oxygen to the cells, including muscle cells, enabling them to operate more effectively.”
“If the world understood what LeBron did — like other basketball players will hear what LeBron does and go, ‘Oh, but that doesn’t matter’ — if you knew what these performance enhancers did, then you would know why it does matter,” Sonnen said on the podcast. “We have the same drug guy, I know exactly what he’s doing. EPO matters, it’s the reason LeBron takes it. It matters. EPO increases your red blood cells, which gives you endurance so you can play all game long. You can shoot in the fourth quarter just like you shot in the first quarter. It is the king of performance enhancers.”
Chael Sonnen claims Lebron James takes PEDs. “We have the same drug guy, I know exactly what he takes”.
( via Flagrant 2 podcast) pic.twitter.com/EDnCHatxhX
— Jo (@MavsStan41) March 8, 2023
Just a week before dropping the LeBron bombshell, Sonnen made similar allegations against Jon “Bones” Jones, accusing the fighter of using PEDs in 2013 before their UFC 159 bout. (RELATED: Miami Marlins Add Yuli Gurriel And José Iglesias In Free Agency Just Before Start Of The Season)
“I had more juice than Tropicana and [Jones] pushed me around like a Mack truck versus a Volvo,” Sonnen said. “As soon as we locked up with each other, as he’s pushing me backward before he comes with his big spinning elbow, I remember thinking, ‘I know your secret because I got the same one.'”
Chael: I had more juice than Tropicana and he pushed me around like a Mack truck…#TheMMAHour pic.twitter.com/9SxBMNQEZ6
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) February 27, 2023
Neither LeBron James or Jon Jones has responded to Sonnen’s accusations.