Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!
Welcome to Midnight Mania!
United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) oversees the drug testing of many sports and organizations, including UFC. After an athlete fails a drug test, they have the option to go into arbitration and contest the result, which can often result in a reduced sentence if sufficient evidence is provided. A common reason for a failed test is the tainted supplement, but there have been more varied excuses like the infamous tainted gas station dick pills and bad Mexican meat.
Here’s a new one: sexually transmitted banned substances. Today, USADA found two athletes — boxer Virginia Fuchs and softball player Madilyn Nickles — “not at fault” for various banned substances. In both cases, the female athletes’ male partners were receiving “therapeutic doses” of the assorted metabolites that caused the failed tests.
Both failed tests came out-of-competition.
Travis T. Tygart, Chief Executive Officer of USADA, wrote in a statement for both athletes, “While the World Anti-Doping Code requires that this no fault finding be considered a violation and be publicly announced, we strongly believe this case and others like it, including meat contamination and prescription medication contamination cases, should be considered no violation. We will continue to advocate for changes to the World Anti-Doping Code so that where there is no intent to cheat and no performance benefit, an athlete should not face any violation or unnecessary public attention.”
UFC Senior VP of Athlete Health and Performance — AKA “The Golden Snitch” — Jeff Novitzky took to Twitter to explain that UFC’s testing has thresholds that should help prevent incidents like these.
Yes yes yes! This is what athletes are facing these days and EXACTLY why UFC program adopted thresholds last year. Need to see Athletic Commissions do the same. A lot of encouraging discussions recently with Comissions including Nevada.
— Jeff Novitzky (@JeffNovitzkyUFC) June 11, 2020
I don’t know about anyone else, but I am now eagerly awaiting the day when some fighter blames his/her spouse for their trenbolone-riddled urine. Give it a year or two!
Insomnia
Francis Ngannou with the THROWBACK OF THE YEAR!
This sounds like a fun grappling match!
BREAKING
Fireworks right here!!! Davi Ramos will fight Arman Tsarukyan on July 18th on Yas Island!!! pic.twitter.com/rF8c5WcWMc
— MMA DNA (@MMADNANL) June 11, 2020
For anyone in search of headbutt knockouts and general chaos, World Lethwei Championship has now scheduled a return to action.
The World Lethwei Championship announces expansion.
The WLC restarts operations in the coronavirus era with a Myanmar show in August.
It’s then building overseas cards for:
Cambodia — Sept 18, 2020
Thailand — Jan 8, 2021
Japan — Aug 6, 2021
USA — Nov 5, 2021 pic.twitter.com/FXb89rjsqa— Alan Dawson (@AlanDawsonSport) June 11, 2020
Matt Hughes is making progress towards his recovery.
There’s always something to be learned from watching Saenchai work.
Slips, rips, and KO clips
Combate Americas released champion Gustavo Lopez so that he could fill in for Ray Borg this weekend opposite Merab Dvalishvili, which is always nice to see. Here’s a clip of him at work:
Combate Americas has decided to allow @Gustavo11Lopez to move forward and fight in the UFC this Saturday night. We wish him the best of luck with the rest of his career
— Campbell McLaren (@campbellcombate) June 11, 2020
Ray Borg’s #UFCVegas2 replacement, @Gustavo11Lopez, has KNOCK-OUT-OUT-OUT power
(via @combateamericas) pic.twitter.com/1AZmtsyrJQ
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) June 12, 2020
I don’t know if the backstory provided here is true. What I do know is this: 1) throwing kicks in a street fight is stupid unless you know how to kick, and 2) flip-flops come off before the punches start flying.
WHITE SUPREMACIST WEARING “FLIP FLOPS”
HARASSES AN ASIAN MAN
AND GETSKNOCKED THE F#%CK OUT!
— Honey Chile (@HoneyChile15) June 10, 2020
Counter the counter:
Random Land
In my opinion, this is one of the neatest clips I’ve found.
Midnight Music: Thursday night jazz courtesy of the legendary Horace Silver Quintet!
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.