Former UFC featherweight Blake Bilder claimed that he was high on LSD during a 2023 UFC fight on a Thursday podcast appearance.
Bilder, who went 1-2 over three bouts in the UFC from 2023-24, told “Rise Above with Kevin Lanning” that he ingested the psychedelic drug by accident prior to his UFC 289 undercard bout against Kyle Nelson. Bilder stated that he was already facing criminal charges in Australia over allegations of serving as a drug mule at the time of his mistake, but that he had a positive experience taking psychedelic drugs prior to a training session at his local gym in the lead-up to his fight against Nelson.
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That, Bilder claimed, led him to accidentally ingest a significant amount LSD in the hours before UFC 289:
“So a buddy … was making the most crystallized form of psilocybin that you can make, and he was like a mad scientist so he was making LSD too, and ergot and all this stuff. And so he’s like, ‘Dude, I made you some!’ So he pretty much just drenched the thing in LSD, these sugar cubes, and wrapped them in a foil and gave them to me. And so I had a really good experience at the gym when I was training a couple weeks before my fight, and I was like, ‘Oh dude, if the mushrooms worked really good, the LSD will be crazy.’
“I snuck it over into the Canada border … I took some the day before and then I took some the day of, right before I left to go to the show. And we meet with the [UFC] staff and I have these murdered-out, blacked-out Dior glasses and nobody can see my eyes. And dude, when I took it, I took and … I put it on my tongue — and it just dissolves. And I was like, ‘Oh no, no, no, no, no!’ I was only supposed to do a micro [dose]. I was like, ‘Ah — oh, no! Oh!’ And I was like, ‘Alright, no, it’s alright. God, we got this.’”
“I know God is always with me, but it just felt like I wasn’t with God. And it just felt, like, empty.”
Bilder went on to state that the situation only worsened when he was given a pre-fight drug test upon arriving to the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada:
“As soon as you get to the venue, ‘You’ve been randomly selected to be drug-tested, so we’re going to have you pee immediately when you get to the venue.’ I was like, ‘Cool.’ And I just felt like everybody was giving me the eye. And then I lost and everybody was talking s*** on the internet. ‘F***ing dumbass! Clown!’ Dude, laughing about my little brother’s suicide. Like, bro, the most brutal s*** you could ever experience. It was crazy the way people talked to me. … This is when I get sober. And so my last use was that UFC fight, UFC 289. June 10, 2023.”
Bilder (8-2-1) ultimately lost the bout in a lackluster unanimous decision, winning only a single round on a single judge’s scorecard. The final tally: 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28, all in favor of Nelson.
Bilder said his prior experience training on psychedelic drugs caused him to discount the realities of what fighting in front of a sold-out arena filled with bright lights and screaming fans would do to him. The lights in the Rogers Arena, in particular, Bilder said affected him greatly during his experience.
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Bilder competed just once more in the UFC after that loss, suffering another decision setback against Jeong Yeong Lee at UFC Vegas 85 the following February before being released by the promotion.
