Josh Silveira, a fighter in the Professional Fighters League (PFL), acknowledges that even when athletes know they are clean and following the rules, the process of providing a urine sample for an athletic commission can still make them nervous. Ahead of his fight at PFL 4, Silveira expressed his nerves about the drug testing process, despite passing his test. He mentioned that the thought of “Did I do something in my sleep?” crosses his mind, causing general nervousness. Silveira emphasized that he is a clean fighter and does not even take supplements like creatine.
After learning that some of his teammates at American Top Team (ATT) had failed drug tests after PFL 1, Silveira initially felt concerned and questioned whether he had done anything wrong. However, when he discovered that his name was not among those who failed, he felt relieved.
“I don’t care what anyone says; anytime you gotta piss in a cup, that s—t gets you nervous no matter what,” Silveira told MMA Mania.
“Even if you’re in the clear. I’m like; I don’t know, did I do something in my sleep? You’re just getting nervous in general. You know what I mean? So, when I found out there was a handful of guys that got picked up from that stuff. I was bad for myself. And I was feeling like, what did I do wrong? Did I do anything? What did I do? I’m just a steak and potatoes guy, man; I don’t even take creatine, to be honest. People told me I should start taking creatine; they said it’s a very good supplement. But I don’t even take it, you know, I’m just rice and beans- a good old Brazilian big boy.
“So yeah, I was a little nervous, and I was kind of prepping my mind to be ready,” he continued. “Man, I don’t know, I did a bunch of Nevada State Commission things, you know, reading some stuff online. Whether it was for supplements or marijuana use, I was reading all these things to try to educate myself, and then I got the phone call back … and my name wasn’t in that group. So my dad was like, ‘If your name wasn’t part of that group, you’re probably in the clear.’”
Silveira also mentioned that, upon reflection, he noticed that one of the fighters who failed the drug test, Will Fleury, appeared noticeably bigger during fight week. Silveira commented on Fleury’s size, describing him as unexpectedly big and even likening him to a security guard due to his imposing physique.
“I started analyzing the whole thing, and I was like, that Will Fleury guy was awfully kind of big,” Silveira said. “He was huge. Dude, he was unexpectedly big. Not gonna lie. I was talking about it with my dad and was like, ‘Holy crap. I’m not talking smack or anything.’ I’m probably one of the smaller guys in the division. So for somebody like me, my eyes were getting kind of big — that dude looks like security. You know? A big ol redhead.”