The fact that Vitor Belfort was granted a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) for testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) prior to his bout in Brazil against Michael Bisping quickly became a point of contention for many within the mixed martial arts community.
Belfort, just 35 years old, tested positive for the anabolic steroid 4-Hydroxytestosterone back in 2006, and that sordid history raised suspicions about his allegedly low testosterone.
Next up for Belfort is a scheduled bout against Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold in May. The event once again takes place Brazil, and at this time it’s unknown if Belfort will apply for a TUE.
Nonetheless, according to Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) executive director Keith Kizer, neither Belfort nor any past steroid user is likely to receive an exemption for TRT within the UFC’s home state, Nevada.
“I don’t see Vitor Belfort getting a TRT exemption from us,” Kizer told Bleacher Report’s Damon Martin. “I really don’t, and I feel kind of bad for him in some ways because if he has learned from his mistakes and now he’s trying to do it the right way and his levels are low with the treatment, good for him and I hope he is doing that.”
Kizer’s statement will be popular in some circles, including that of UFC President Dana White, who not long after Belfort’s victory made a very public about-face regarding his stance on the controversial treatment.
Of course, opponents to the NSAC’s blanket stance will likely point to the case of Chael Sonnen. The 35-year-old Sonnen infamously tested positive for increased levels of testosterone following his 2010 bout against Anderson Silva, only to rematch Silva in Nevada two years later with yet another exemption for TRT.
Kizer, though, is quick to point out that Sonnen never actually tested positive for steroids.
“Some guys are going to have to jump through some additional hoops, but even Chael wasn’t a prior steroid (user) that could have caused the deficiency like Vitor,” the NSAC head remarked.
“The rules are the rules and you have to draw the line somewhere.”
6 MUST-READ STORIES
Kizer: Belfort won’t get TUE in Nevada. Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer told Bleacher Report that UFC middleweight Vitor Belfort, along with other past steroids users, will likely be denied an exemption for testoreone replacement therapy in the state of Nevada.
UFC to Fox Sports 1. Auto racing network SPEED will transform into FOX’s new cable sports network, FOX Sports 1, on Saturday, August 17. A live UFC “Fight Night” event will accompany the transition. From that point on, the network will regularly air live Wednesday night UFC events, as well as UFC Tonight and a slew of UFC-centric programming.
Exodus from Team Lloyd Irvin. Bloody Elbow’s Brent Brookhouse did a remarkable job investigating the seedy cult of personality that has led to a mass exodus from Team Lloyd Irvin amidst accusations of sexual abuse. I highly recommend you check this piece out.
TUF 17 results. Since last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter 17 is embedded below, I won’t include any spoilers for those that haven’t seen it. So if you want to check out results and recaps, click here.
Emelianenko fined. Prior to his release from M-1 and subsequent retirement, Aleksander Emelianenko was fined 700 rubles for hooliganism, stemming from an incident on an airplane in which he “caused a breach of public order, spoke loudly, molested passengers, provoked them into fights, did not react to remarks from the cabin crew, demanded liquor, used foul language, (and) smoked in the airplane,” according to a report from RSport. Strangely enough, Emelianenko is now living in a Greek monastery.
FUEL 8 ratings. Last weekened’s three-hour broadcast of UFC on FUEL 8 drew 485,000 viewers to FUEL TV, “more than doubling the previous all-time record for a live main card on the station.” Additionally, “both the pre-fight show (250,000 viewers) and post-fight show (219,000) became the third and fourth most-watched shows in station history.” Commented UFC President Dana White: “F–kin amazing, FOX is going crazy.”
MEDIA STEW
As always, if you missed last night’s episode of TUF 17, feel free to catch it in full below.
“It’s funny how things hit you. I was like, ‘I know why he got the tattoo! It was to take everybody’s mind off the fact that he has boobs.’ You know, they kind of hang. When he jumps, they bounce up and down.” — Frank Mir, waxing poetic about his old friend Brock Lesnar.
I’ll tell you right now, this one is a little graphic. Though it’s hard to feel much sympathy for a guy with these tattoos.
(HT: MiddleEasy)
I urge you to read the story of Fallon Fox before checking out this video. Form your own opinions, but please keep it civil.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say this will be the best HDNet montage you’ll see all day.
BAD LUCK
3 days to find out if I have a hospital bacteria from Japan before they can do surgery on the jaw, wow this is gonna suck!!
— Stefan Struve (@StefanStruve) March 5, 2013
I counted on getting surgey today, waiting for another 3 days is gonna suck soooooo bad, this is brutal
— Stefan Struve (@StefanStruve) March 5, 2013
THE OTHER SIDE
jus so u guys know i wasnt happy with my performance,but i have been struggling with this injury for a while stopping traing to baby it
— mark richard hunt (@markhunt1974) March 5, 2013
STRAUS UPDATE
Yo I wanna jus say thank you to everyone that has, is, an will keep supporting me. I am truly sorry for… instagr.am/p/Wej5tWuTgq/
— Daniel Straus (@DanielStraus) March 5, 2013
MEGA MEGU WANTS IN
I will do a good job too in UFC!
— ??? Megumi Fujii (@MegaMeguCat) March 3, 2013
When will the female 115 pound division start in the UFC.
— ??? Megumi Fujii (@MegaMeguCat) March 3, 2013
OKAY, YOU GOT ME
Retweet if.????????????????????????????????????you thought your screen was cracked
— Derek Brunson (@DerekBrunsonMMA) March 4, 2013
MEMORIES
@chuckliddell the good old days my brother 🙂
— Dana White (@danawhite) March 6, 2013
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Announced yesterday (Tuesday, March 5, 2013):
- UFC 161: Soa Palelei (18-3) vs. Stipe Miocic (9-1)
- UFC on FX 8: Gleison Tibau (26-9) vs. John Cholish (8-2)
- UFC on FX 8: Mike Rio (9-1) vs. Francisco Trinaldo (12-2)
- UFC on FX 8: Roger Hollett (13-4) vs. Fabio Maldonado (18-6)
- Bellator 93: Douglas Lima (24-5) out with broken hand, bout versus Ben Saunders (16-5-2) postponed
- ONE FC 8: Jake Butler (1-0) vs. Nuur Muhammad (0-0)
- ONE FC 8: Rene Catalan (0-0) vs. Alex Silva (1-1)
- ONE FC 8: Ronald Low (1-0) vs. Chen Yun Ting (0-0)
- ONE FC 8: Yusup Saadulaev (9-2-1) vs. Leandro Issa (10-3)
- ONE FC 8: Bashir Ahmad (0-0) vs. Shannon Wiratchai (2-0)
FANPOST OF THE DAY
Today’s Fanpost of the Day sees Grappo end the discussion with: Gomi vs. Sanchez Fight Stats
The Fireball Kid is and always will be one of my favorite fighters, so it’s a joy to see this reinvigorated version of Gomi in the UFC, but I didn’t like his chances against Sanchez going in. I figured Diego would use his strength and wrestling to neutralize Gomi and beat him up on the ground for 15 minutes, but Gomi was well-prepared, keeping the fight on the feet for the most part, and showing much-improved conditioning and boxing. Diego, for his part, fought a smart fight as well, rarely initiating at punching range with the powerful striker, though more takedowns and clinching could have helped to slow Gomi’s pace and disrupt his rhythm. Gomi stalked forward while Sanchez moved and kept the fight at kicking range, preferring to throw counter punches as Gomi waded in, winging shots.
It was a bit of a shock when the decision was announced, as I thought Gomi won it pretty handily, and I hope that the loss doesn’t put a damper on Gomi’s refound passion (or his UFC status). I decided to break this fight down statistically, like I did for Machida vs. Hendo, again, because I wanted to see how my tally matched up with the industry-standard FightMetric, and to get a better idea of how the fight could have been judged the way it was.
Upon second and third viewings, I still have it a shut-out for Gomi, but it was a much closer fight than I realized when watching it live, wearing my Fireball-colored glasses. After the decision was announced, they cut to the “Move of the Fight” and fittingly, it was the 3 takedowns from Round 1. I have to figure that those takedowns are what sealed the round for Diego in the eyes of two judges, even though I weighted Gomi’s powerful strikes more heavily. With the 2nd round being close enough to be a draw, if I can lean toward Gomi, it’s understandable if someone else leaned the other way. The 3rd round was undeniably Gomi’s.
Fightmetric has the total strike count as – Sanchez – 68, Gomi – 81
I have it as – Sanchez – 44, Gomi – 60
I have to say that I did not include blocked, or properly checked strikes in the count, and that there were a couple of exchanges (such as 2:44-2:35 of Rd. 1) wherein the angle was so bad that it was impossible to tell who landed what where.
Here is the round-by-round breakdown of all the effective offense from the fight.
Round One
Gomi – 21 strikes
10 head punches
8 body punches
1 body kick
1 leg kick
1 knee to the body or headComplete round-by-round breakdowns (with screenshots) after the jump…
Found something you’d like to see in the Morning Report? Just hit me on Twitter @shaunalshatti and we’ll include it in tomorrow’s column.