Not sure, I think he might have had silicone? Plenty of fighters have used things to look more aesthetic. When Tim Sylvia, ex mma fighter got busted for steroids he claimed it was because he wanted to look better.
I don't believe Tim Sylvia's reasoning for a second. He was using steroids because everyone (except maybe the Diaz brothers and a couple others) were using all kinds of steroids at the time Sylvia was a hot commodity. I don't think you could compete in the UFC at heavyweight without some chemical assistance.
Sylvia did have a doughy physique, but so what? A lot of heavyweights did, and still do. They aren't insecure about it. Daniel Cormier is a great example. He's not getting liposuction to get rid of his lovehandles. Or, closer to Sylvia's time, how about The Last Emperor himself- Fedor. Fedor looked like an out-of-shape dad who did manual labor for his day job and then spent his evenings drinking beer and eating fried bullshit.
But he'd enter the cage/ring facing men juiced to the gills, muscles coming off of their muscles, and proceed to make them look like children. You'd think professional fighters would be above vanity, or have overcome vanity by the time they're professionals.
One of my favorite examples of an over-muscled, obvious steroid user getting their ass kicked by a skinny, clean athlete was Nick Diaz vs. Marius Zaromskis. Here, enjoy this fantastic fight with me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLa7pdC6iks
Everyone is different. Some of us have more vanity than others but I do agree as well that in sports everyone is using some sort of performance enhancing drug to stay competitive. One extreme version of a transformation in physique as well as performance from using drugs was Vitor Belfort.
Do you still follow MMA since USADA was implemented?
Vitor Belfort has about 4 forms: his original early UFC form (the blitz-you-down with straight punches one), his 2nd form, and then there was TRT-tor. He's the one that spinning-head kicked Michael Bisping's eyeball out. TRT-tor is the one who was kicking everyone in the head, and nearly broke Jon Jones' arm.
And then USADA came along, making doping much, much more difficult. It vastly limited what the athletes could use and not be caught. This led to Vitor's 4th form: post-USADA Vitor, aka "Dad-bod Vitor".
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