After today’s announcement by the California State Athletic Commission, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker released his own statement regarding Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Santos, saying they will closely monitor the situation.
“STRIKEFORCE has not seen the test results regarding Ms. Santos. However, we have a consistent and strong stance against any use of performance-enhancing drugs. We also have a long history of supporting effective drug testing of athletes by authorized regulatory bodies. Therefore, we will closely monitor the matter and will work with the California State Athletic Commission regarding any information we may be asked to provide. We also recognize that Ms. Santos has administrative process rights under California law and we hope that she is not prejudged before she has the opportunity to exercise such rights.”
Meanwhile, UFC president Dana White, has already come out saying that they have stripped ‘Cyborg’ of the title and wasn’t sure what the future was for the women’s 145-lbs division. Likely the shallow talent pool of the division will see it shut down letting Strikeforce concentrate on the women’s 135-lbs division
Here’s what White had to say about the situation while he was a guest on ESPN radio (via USA Today).
“We were going to hold that division and just do fights with ‘Cyborg’ whenever there was a new contender,” White said Friday during a radio interview with ESPN 1100 Las Vegas. “She’s getting stripped of the title. I don’t know. We’ll see what happens.”
Santos tested positive for steroids following her victory over Hiroko Yamanaka on Dec. 16 in San Diego, California. The CSAC suspended her license for one year, fined her $2,500 and overturned the win to a “No Contest”.
It will be interesting to see how this turns out over the next days, weeks, and months as many of you are familiar with Chael Sonnen’s recent tussle with a positive steroid test which hasn’t hurt his career at all. I guess we’ll have to wait and see if a double standard applies.