Amid the Chinese doping scandal, swimming legend Michael Phelps has spoken out. He requested tougher sanctions and a lifetime ban for any athlete who was found to have a positive test for banned substances. Interestingly, he found support in the most unlikely places, such as from Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz.

The Instagram post by ESPN stated, “In the wake of a Chinese doping scandal, Michael Phelps doubled down on his support for tougher sanctions – including a lifetime ban for anyone who tests positive for a banned substance.” Surprisingly, Conor McGregor posted the news on his story and wrote, “LIVING ATHLETIC LEGEND!#inspiration.” Even Nate Diaz commented with the emojis “100,100” agreeing with the swimmer.

Phelps said straightforwardly, “If you test positive, you should never be allowed to come back and compete again, cut and dry.” The World Anti-Doping Agency and World Aquatics basically found 23 Chinese athletes, guilty of consuming banned substances before the Tokyo Olympics, and 9 of them still participated and won medals. Phelps responded that he had won 23 medals the clean way after going through incessant tests, proving it was possible to win without PEDs.

Phelps argued against this case because he had never played in a clean field according to him. The 8X gold medal winner from the 2008 Beijing Olympics was not without criticism.  He had encountered opponents who were later revealed to have taken banned substances and thus he is speaking up against this issue. It is clear why McGregor supports this because, during the PED fiasco with Ryan Garcia, he was one of the few fighters who wanted Garcia to get a lifetime ban.

Conor McGregor on Ryan Garcia’s alleged use of PED

McGregor had dragged Garcia through the mud for his alleged PED use and positive tests and he wanted the fighter to be banned from UFC. During one of his live sessions, a fan had asked the former dual-weight champ about his rant on Garcia and even his criticism of Sean O’Malley. He said, “You know, I like Sean O’Malley; I do actually like Sean. I just seen the disrespect of [Ryan] Garcia… it just reminded me of a situation with Sean, and he kind of got caught in the crosshairs. He also said something like he’d beat me, not in his wildest dreams. But I do like Sean.” 

Garcia was even handed a one-year ban by NYSAC and ‘The Notorious’ was pleased about it. He also forfeited a huge amount from the contract purse for the Devin Haney fight which was reportedly almost $1.1 million. There was still backlash from both McGregor and Haney because apparently, Golden Boy was still benefitting from the forfeited fight money. However, Garcia claimed he was innocent and a victim of substance contamination.

PED use and substance contamination is still a serious issue in the athletic world. So do you think these suggestions were correct by Michael Phelps? Do you agree with him? Tell us in the comments below.