Khama Worthy enters his bout this weekend with Jamie Mullarkey, looking to rebound from his first loss in his UFC career. While Worthy is the type that likes to move forward and focus on the future, he has some pretty strong feelings about his last opponent, Ottman Azaitar.
Azaitar was embroiled in controversy when the UFC released him just prior to a scheduled fight he had on fight island. While the details were murky at best, the accounts given from Dana White involved unauthorized personnel, modified ID bracelets, and a mysterious bag, which Azaitar has since said was filled with potatoes.
Although there are some doubts around what exactly went on, Worthy has no doubts about one thing.
“He’s on steroids. There’s no way around it,” Worthy said. “His brother got caught on steroids and then he gets caught sneaking a mysterious bag filled with magic potatoes into a place that’s completely secure.”
The sketchiest part of this situation for Worthy is that the UFC puts people in charge of catering to the athletes. They have assigned members of staff that could seemingly get you anything you needed – even potatoes.
“When I go to Vegas, they give us literally everything we want. If you need something, there’s a person assigned to us,” he explained. “My guy just hit me up yesterday and goes ‘this is so-and-so, I’m going to be your assigned person. Let me know if you need anything – food, stuff to help you cut weight’ That’s his job.”
While he is over the loss, Worthy is not over the circumstances. In fact, Worthy has some pretty strong beliefs about what should happen to those caught cheating in the sport of MMA.
“People that use steroids in combat sports should be beat with hammers,” he stated plainly. “If you want to do steroids to put someone else’s life at risk, you’re a piece of sh*t.”
At the root of this stance is Worthy’s understanding of all the risks inherent in the sport from the get go. He realizes what he’s doing to his body every fight he takes, but doesn’t think it’s fair to see that wear and tear accelerated at the hands of an opponent who isn’t playing fair.
“What we’re doing is going to take time away from us. We know this – we’re going to have brain trauma and problems being able to interact with our grandkids because of the sport we do. It’s a known fact; there’s no secret about it,” he said. “I know the risks getting into the fights, but when someone comes in enhanced, they increase those risks. So you’re taking time away from my family, you’re taking time away from me.”
Surprisingly, Azaitar has been given a second chance with the promotion. You can catch Worthy’s next bout, the aforementioned showdown with Jamie Mullarkey as part of the UFC 260 pay-per-view main card.
You can hear the entire audio of this interview below, starting at 2:41.
For more from UFC 260’s Khama Worthy, you can check out his media day appearance below.
