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Chael Sonnen Talks TRT, Says More Crazy Things That Make No Sense

Chael Sonnen is never at a loss for words, which makes him the ultimate guest if you’re running a MMA-themed television or radio show. Last night, Sonnen appeared as a special guest on Spike’s MMA Uncensored Live, and he was in rare form when disc…

Chael Sonnen is never at a loss for words, which makes him the ultimate guest if you’re running a MMA-themed television or radio show.

Last night, Sonnen appeared as a special guest on Spike’s MMA Uncensored Live, and he was in rare form when discussing Rampage Jackson and his usage of testosterone replacement therapy, better known as TRT.

I like him. Look, he’s a crybaby, but I find it entertaining. I like it when he goes on his campaigns about entitlement and how he should be given easy fights.

I don’t agree with any of it, but, you gotta understand, everybody’s gonna stumble, at times, but to miss weight at a fight poorly, when you’re paid what he’s paid — he’s the second-highest paid fighter in the industry now that Brock Lesnar is retired — it kind of puts him in a different ballpark. A lot of things are expected of him, and he’s not quite delivering.

But as far as retirement talk, the guy ought to be able to have a bad performance here and there. Randy Couture, the greatest of all time, had bad performances, but he always came back.

If you’re gonna associate the guy with TRT, make sure you also associate the fact that it’s legal and it’s not banned. Second thing with TRT is people are really getting confused. They look at TRT and they’re missing the stuff that really is good.

TRT is eight, nine or ten on the list of things they could take to help their careers. Secondly, any time a person says ‘performance enhancer,’ stop talking to them, because they don’t have the intellect to debate with you.

TRT use in mixed martial arts became a hot topic after Sonnen’s testosterone levels came back high for his bout against Anderson Silva at UFC 117 nearly two years ago.

Craig Carton, the host of MMA Uncensored Live, got a good verbal dig in on Sonnen when he said “you tested positive for as much testosterone as an elephant when you fought Silva.”

Sonnen replied:

No, no, no. Absolutely not. Not only did I not take more of it, I was never even accused of that. Josh Gross, who’s incompetent beyond measure, went on ESPN and said that I did, so it became my reality and I went with it. I was never even accused of that.

Is it legal or is it not legal? If a person’s taking a legal substance, that’s the end of the conversation. You’re sounding a lot like Josh Gross.

Let’s clear up some of the reality distortion field here. Sonnen’s testosterone levels when he fought Silva were at 16.9:1. The average male testosterone ratio is 1:1. If you’re taking testosterone replacement therapy, you are still required to have testosterone levels within a reasonable limit. The California State Athletic Commission allows for up to 4:1.

Which means Sonnen had a testosterone limit of nearly 17 times that of a normal human, and over four times the allowable limit.

So yeah, he was accused of taking too much testosterone. But let’s not let that get in the way of a good story

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Nick Diaz Continues to Entertain MMA Fans in the Midst of Controversy

Things are never boring when Nick Diaz is involved.A few days ago, I shared the news that Diaz would be fighting his drug test failure suspension in Nevada. He hired high-powered Vegas attorney Ross Goodman, and Goodman argued that Diaz didn’t test pos…

Things are never boring when Nick Diaz is involved.

A few days ago, I shared the news that Diaz would be fighting his drug test failure suspension in Nevada. He hired high-powered Vegas attorney Ross Goodman, and Goodman argued that Diaz didn’t test positive for a substance banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Which is technically true, if you’re going by the letter of the law. Diaz tested positive for marijuana metabolites and not actual marijuana itself.

It’s a good argument, but Diaz may still find himself suspended even if the drug suspension is lifted.

As you know, Diaz is licensed to smoke medicinal marijuana in the state of California. He has a prescription. And yet, on his pre-fight questionnaire from the Nevada commission, Diaz said he had not used any prescription drugs in the two weeks prior to the fight.

NSAC public information officer Jennifer M. Lopez—no, not that Jennifer Lopez, though it would be awesome if it were—released a statement saying that Diaz lied on his questionnaire:

Not only did Nick Diaz violate the law by testing positive for marijuana metabolites, but he also lied to the Commission on his Pre-Fight Questionnaire when he swore that he had not used any prescribed medications in two weeks before the fight.

Calling his client a liar sent Goodman into attack mode today. Goodman insists that Diaz didn’t lie about using prescription drugs because Nevada doesn’t view marijuana as a prescription drug. Here’s the regulation regarding the drug from Chapter 453A.210 of the Nevada Revised Statues:

(1) The person has been diagnosed with a chronic or debilitating medical condition;
(2) The medical use of marijuana may mitigate the symptoms or effects of that condition; and
(3) The attending physician has explained the possible risks and benefits of the medical use of marijuana;
(b) The name, address, telephone number, social security number and date of birth of the person;
(c) Proof satisfactory to the Division that the person is a resident of this State;
(d) The name, address and telephone number of the person’s attending physician; and
(e) If the person elects to designate a primary caregiver at the time of application:
(1) The name, address, telephone number and social security number of the designated primary caregiver; and
(2) A written, signed statement from the person’s attending physician in which the attending physician approves of the designation of the primary caregiver.

Goodman spoke to Yahoo Sports on Thursday, saying that no normal person views marijuana as an actual prescription drug, and thus, there was no need for Diaz to check the box.

“Nowhere in there does it say that the attending physician is prescribing marijuana,” Goodman said. “And so, for obvious reasons, before you speak and call someone a liar, you think you’d do a little bit of due diligence and understand what the Nevada law actually says.”

“It’s not like you walk into the pharmacy and start looking around on the shelves and hope to pick up a bag of marijuana. That’s ridiculous. No reasonable person would believe that medical marijuana falls under the category of over the counter medications.”

I have no idea if Diaz will win his appeal. If you go by the letter of the law, then he did not fail a test for marijuana, and thus, cannot be suspended. Marijuana is banned in competition, and if Diaz were smoking during competition, he would’ve tested positive for THC. That didn’t happen because Diaz stopped smoking eight days prior to the event.

But if you think that feels like semantics, well, it’s probably because it is.

Goodman is very good at getting his clients off in cases such as this one. Whether or not he can do the same thing for Diaz remains to be seen.

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UFC Attorney Says Fans Who Stream UFC PPVs Are Not Actually Fans at All

The UFC is taking a new tact in the war against pay-per-view piracy.Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported earlier this week that the UFC had obtained email addresses, usernames and IP addresses of users who had illegally streamed e…

The UFC is taking a new tact in the war against pay-per-view piracy.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported earlier this week that the UFC had obtained email addresses, usernames and IP addresses of users who had illegally streamed events through the website GreenFeedz.com.

The UFC has spent plenty of time and money going after websites that illegally stream UFC events, and they’ve had plenty of success in doing so. But this marks the first time that the promotion has targeted individual users who stream events.

Today, Zuffa chief counsel Lawrence Epstein had some strong words for fans who would rather stream the event illegally than pay for it. Epstein spoke to MMAjunkie.com:

We love our fans, and we’ve got some of the greatest fans in the world, and all the success we’ve had with the UFC is directly attributable to those fans. But people that steal our stuff – they’re not our fans.

If you’re a huge [Georges St-Pierre] fan, would you steal from him? I don’t think so. So we love our fans, we respect our fans, but people who steal from us, frankly, aren’t our fans.

Epstein makes a valid point here. It’s easy to sit back and say, “Well, the UFC makes plenty of money off of these events, so it won’t hurt them at all if I watch a stream instead of buying this event.”

And that’s partially true, because the UFC does indeed make plenty of money from these events.

But Epstein’s reference to St-Pierre is a wise one. GSP, like many other top-level UFC superstars, earns a portion of his paycheck from the sales of pay-per-view events. He earns a percentage of each individual pay-per-view buy—reportedly as high as five percent, depending on the actual numbers the event draws.

When you stream a pay-per-view, you’re directly taking money from the pockets of a fighter you proclaim to be a fan of. And sure, St-Pierre is a very rich man, and the two or three bucks he earns from your purchase isn’t going to affect him much.

But that’s not the point, is it? The point is that you’re intentionally stealing from a fighter and a man that you proclaim to be a fan of.

That doesn’t seem like a very good way to express your fandom.

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Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Wiz Completely Manhandles Drunk Restaurant Patron

You may not know the name Ryan Hall, but you probably should.Hall is one of the best Brazilian jiu-jitsu players in the entire world. He’s certainly the best American-born grappling wizard.Hall has earned medals at such prestigious grappling competitio…

You may not know the name Ryan Hall, but you probably should.

Hall is one of the best Brazilian jiu-jitsu players in the entire world. He’s certainly the best American-born grappling wizard.

Hall has earned medals at such prestigious grappling competitions as the Mundials and the Brazilian National Championships, and is a three-time competitor at the Abu Dhabi Submission Fighting Championships. As a matter of fact, he’s actually one of the only non-Brazilian competitors to ever score a medal at Abu Dhabi.

So when I tell you that Hall is pretty good at jiu-jitsu, you should believe me.

And you should also believe me when I tell you that getting yourself raging drunk and accosting Hall when he’s trying to have a peaceful dinner with friends is probably a bad idea.

The drunk guy in this video found out the hard way. Watch as Hall executes a fantastic double-leg takedown and immediately moves into mount, trying to calm the situation. It didn’t work, however, and Hall was ultimately forced to put the drunk to sleep in order to avoid any more disturbances.

The video is entertaining, but it’s also a practical look at how the core elements of jiu-jitsu can be used in self defense. This was exactly what Helio Gracie had in mind when he started developing Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.

He was a small and frail man, so he needed something that would allow him to defend himself against street thugs and beach gangs in Brazil.

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Rampage Jackson Will Eventually Fight Shogun, and I Hope He Finds Happiness

I realize that I’ve been somewhat hard on Quinton Jackson over the past week.The truth is that I’ve long been a Rampage fan. He was one of my three favorite fighters during the PRIDE era, and I always look forward to his fights in the UFC. And yes, tha…

I realize that I’ve been somewhat hard on Quinton Jackson over the past week.

The truth is that I’ve long been a Rampage fan. He was one of my three favorite fighters during the PRIDE era, and I always look forward to his fights in the UFC. And yes, that includes his bout with Matt Hamill, which wasn’t exactly the biggest main event in the history of fighting.

I’ve spent plenty of time with Jackson, away from the bright lights of the arena and the media obligations he so hates fulfilling during fight week. My old employer sponsored a post-fight pool party for Jackson last May, the day after he beat Matt Hamill, at the Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas. It wasn’t publicized at all, and when the actual party rolled around, the crew basically consisted of myself, a few of my co-workers, Stefan Struve and Jackson and his crew.

It was a good day. I spent plenty of time talking to Jackson, almost exclusively about video games. Games are a thing that Jackson is truly passionate about, and it was fun to engage him about something other than fighting for a change.

My buddy Jon, who came out to Vegas to spend a week, debated with Jackson over the merits of Call of Duty vs. Battlefield for well over half an hour. Jackson was firmly in the Call of Duty camp, while Jon argued that Battlefield presented the better multiplayer experience. Jackson disagreed and slapped Jon across the face. It wasn’t an aggressive slap—it was a playful thing, and it made Jon’s day.

What we tend to forget, as fans and as journalists, is that these guys are completely human outside of the cage. We all love fighting, and Jackson wouldn’t be a fighter if he didn’t love the sport, but there’s more to these guys than what you see in the cage. Whenever I’m interviewing a fighter for a story I’m working on, I almost always stay away from discussing the actual fight.

I do this intentionally. Fighters are repeatedly asked the same questions, over and over, for each and every fight. The routine never changes, and I can understand how that gets annoying after awhile. They give the same answer and we write the same story, every single time.

So yes, I’ve probably been too hard on Jackson. He’s an emotional guy, and he’s going through a phase of his career where he’s not as relevant as he once was. That can’t be an easy thing to accept. He comes from a time when pleasing the fans meant more than wins and losses, and he’s now stuck in an era where wins and losses actually matter.

He’ll face Mauricio “Shogun” Rua later this year in his final UFC fight. It’s a bout that should deliver, both in terms of excitement for the fans and in the kind of fight that Jackson has been seeking over the last two years. But first, he’ll undergo double knee surgery, as he revealed on Twitter this morning.

2 keep it real,the Shogun fight will have 2 wait,I just found out that I have 2 get surgery on both knees. But I heal fast don’t trip.

I hope Rampage heals quickly, and I hope the fight with Shogun is everything he wants it to be. And I hope he finds happiness after that fight, whether it’s in the UFC or somewhere else in the world. After all he’s done for the sport, he deserves that.

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Lorenzo Fertitta Thinks Ronda Rousey Can Lead Women’s MMA

Dana White hasn’t always been the biggest fan of female fighting in mixed martial arts. It isn’t the fact that girls are actually fighting each other, though. It’s just that there hasn’t been much in the way of marketable women who can actually fight w…

But UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta disagrees with White. It’s a rare thing to see the two of them publicly voicing differing opinions on a subject. Fertitta told Ariel Helwani that he believes women’s MMA is a very valid thing and that Ronda Rousey might be the superstar to carry them into a brighter future:

“I’ve never been against it,” Fertitta said. “You know, me and Dana, although we always go on a common front, we don’t always agree on everything. The reality is, I’m a fan. I was captivated by the [Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha Tate] fight, blown away by their athleticism and the way they promoted the fight, the whole thing. To me, it was very, very entertaining.

“Dana is right. Historically there has been an issue with the depth of talent in the talent pool, but it seems to me like that is starting to change and the one argument I make when we talk about it, and this might sound a little self-serving, but we’ve never been in the women’s game, so we’ve never had our matchmakers do this. Let Joe Silva and Sean Shelby develop a women’s league. I guarantee you they can do it. They’re that good.”

“I think (Ronda Rousey) has a tremendous amount of potential,” he said. “She’s got a great personality. She’s got the ability to grab the public’s attention, how she talks, and then she goes in there and backs it up. I mean, it’s almost like Ali when he would go in there and call out the round. It’s that kind of aura about her. I’m really positive on her and Miesha. I was very impressed. I’m happy for them.”

I’m a firm believer that Joe Silva and Sean Shelby can do just about anything they want to do. The thought of them being given three or four years to develop a women’s division for the UFC is an exciting thing.

Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate and the rest of the ladies in Strikeforce are eventually going to end up in the UFC. There’s a zero-percent chance that Fertitta and White will allow Bellator or another competitor to pick up Rousey, who is well on her way to becoming a bona fide American sporting superstar.

The smart people over at the Zuffa offices are pretty good with business. Now, more than ever before, female fighting is smart business.

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