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Georges St. Pierre Takes a Page From the BJ Penn Pre-Fight Handbook, Invites Johny Hendricks to Do VADA Testing With Him

(Skip to 2:25 for the start of the VADA conversation..)

UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre has been accused of steroid use more times than any other fighter who’s never failed a drug test. BJ Penn first painted him as a cheater in 2009, saying that St. Pierre “doesn’t play by the rules when it comes to steroids and growth hormones and that stuff,” and pointed to his physique as proof. (“He looks like that every day…The rest of us, we get fat, then we train and get skinny and the cycle goes over and over again. He looks the same way all the time. Come on.”)

The following year, Josh Koscheck passed along some “hearsay information” supporting the GSP/steroid rumors, calling for Olympic style drug testing for his upcoming fight against St. Pierre. And earlier this year, we saw noted conspiracy theorist Nick Diaz implying that not only was GSP on steroids, but the UFC knows about it and is cool with it.

So for once, St. Pierre is going to beat these jackasses to the punch. In a new interview with Sportsnet’s Joe Ferraro, St. Pierre invited his UFC 167 opponent Johny Hendricks to subscribe to pre-fight drug-testing with him through the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA), which would provide random, unannounced testing during the eight weeks before their fight. Here’s what St. Pierre had to say:

“I believe the sport has a problem now. When I first started fighting in mixed martial arts, it didn’t have any money. So, now more money got involved, more ways are there to be cheating to take a shortcut and I believe VADA testing I’m up for it and I invite my opponent to do the VADA testing for the championship fight.

(Skip to 2:25 for the start of the VADA conversation..)

I invite if possible all the high-profile athletes in the UFC to do the same. I believe it’s a good thing. It’s a bit of a pain in the butt sometimes but I believe to make the sport (better)…I’m ready to do it to set a good example.”

If this sounds familiar, it’s because BJ Penn pulled this exact same move before his fight against GSP’s protege Rory MacDonald, implying that the sport (and by extension, his opponent) was dirty, and that it was up to him — MMA’s Last Honest Man — to do something about it.

When Penn did it, it seemed like a cross between self-promotion and preparing an excuse in advance. For St. Pierre, it has a different tenor. This is not about hype — it’s about taking control of the common narrative (among his opponents, at least) that he’s a drug-cheat.

Will VADA-testing actually come to pass for his title-defense against Hendricks? Probably not. UFC president Dana White has bristled in the past when his fighters bring up the idea of additional drug testing for their fights, claiming that drug-testing should only be the responsibility of the athletic commissions. (“When fighters start talking about other guys being drug tested? Shut up. Worry about you.”) But hopefully this will prevent GSP’s future opponents from dragging out the same unfounded attacks about St. Pierre and PEDs. And just in case Johny Hendricks was planning to do the same thing? Well, he can’t now. In fact, he has to say that he’d be down with VADA testing too*, or else he looks suspicious.

Of course, if you’re a Nick Diaz/BJ Penn nuthugger, you probably think that the UFC has already paid off VADA to falsify any drug-test results that GSP might submit in the future, in order to help their golden-boy PPV king keep winning fights and maintain his year-round six-pack. I can’t help you guys. The truth is out there.

* Update: And he has. “Heck ya!” Hendricks told UFC Central Radio on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. “The worst thing that they’re going to find is a little bit of protein in my diet. If eating wild hogs and organic deer meat and a little bit of glutamine is bad for the ol’ system then I might fail…It doesn’t matter. Today, tomorrow, three months from now, I’ll gladly take a test for anything.”

B.J. Penn Still Has The Skills to Compete With the Best Lightweights in the UFC

I’m not here to tell you if B.J. Penn is going to fight again. But I can tell you what I know after speaking with Penn on Sunday.Or, at least what I think I know. Because with Penn, you are never quite sure.First, I’ll give you my observation:Penn is l…

I’m not here to tell you if B.J. Penn is going to fight again. But I can tell you what I know after speaking with Penn on Sunday.

Or, at least what I think I know. Because with Penn, you are never quite sure.

First, I’ll give you my observation:

Penn is lighter than I’ve seen him in a long time. This is not the welterweight version of “The Prodigy,” which is pretty much the worst version of Penn. On the surface, this at least looks like the lightweight Penn, or at least very near it, and he appears to be priming himself for a comeback to the Octagon.

Again, I’m not telling you if Penn is going to fight again. When we asked “The Prodigy” if he planned on returning to the Octagon, he told us that he wasn’t sure. He has a very specific agenda in mind, and it doesn’t involve getting repeatedly punched in the face.

“I don’t want to come back if I’m just going to get beaten up,” Penn said.

If Penn came back to the Octagon, he’d be returning to a very different landscape than the one he left. When Frankie Edgar wrenched control of the title away from Penn back at UFC 112, Penn had reigned as the most dominant lightweight in the history of the sport for years.

Gray Maynard was knocking on the door of title contention, and there were no World Extreme Cagefighting lightweights in the UFC. Sean Sherk was still considered a potential contender. I’d assumed Sherk had retired until I saw him waltzing around the UFC Fan Expo last week in Las Vegas.

This is a different world. He’s not returning to the division he once dominated; he’s coming back to a world ruled by Benson Henderson, who has already tied Penn’s record for most lightweight title defenses (three) and is the odds-on favorite to add another when he meets T.J. Grant next month.

Henderson isn’t just motivated. He’s driven to become the best in his division right now and to be the best ever. He wants to break Anderson Silva‘s now-stagnant record for most UFC title defenses (10). He shows the kind of grit and determination that we’ve seen from Penn in the past. The only difference is that Penn was sporadic in displaying his fire, while Henderson—despite his cool exterior and seeming indifferent to the notion that he’s in the middle of a cage fight—well, he’s always on fire. Always capable and always ready.

But Penn was always a different fighter at lightweight than at welterweight. He seemed more focused and just better overall. He had something to prove. He had the crazy eyes.

At welterweight, Penn was content to train and do just enough, and still he competed admirably with some of the better fighters in the division, even in recent years when the UFC seemed fine with the idea of using Penn as a kind of name-value booster for its young up-and-coming fighters.

I don’t know how Penn would fare at lightweight in 2013 or 2014. Perhaps he should stay retired. He may not be able to hang with stud athletes like Gilbert Melendez, Josh Thomson or even Nate Diaz and Donald Cerrone. Penn’s expiration date may have drifted through our rear-view mirrors years ago, and not even a drop back to his best fighting weight can help him.

Or perhaps we’ll see “The Prodigy” step back in the cage and continue the history-making story he began when he earned his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt in an astounding (and record-setting) three years, or when he became the first non-Brazilian to win the black belt division at the 2000 World Championships.

I know which one I’d prefer.

When handed a choice between Penn staying in Hawaii and never competing again or returning to the UFC for marquee matches with Melendez or Diaz or—and you can file this one under the “you never know” department—even a title shot with Henderson?

Well, I know which one I’d choose. And I suspect you do, too.

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The 5 Most Unlikely Title Winners in UFC History

When Anderson Silva steps in the cage this weekend against Chris Weidman, he will look to keep his seven-year title reign intact. Though a Weidman win would hardly be the most shocking in the history of UFC championship fights, it would be an improbabl…

But Weidman wouldn’t be the first to pick up an unlikely win against a dominant fighter and champion.

Other champions have set foot in the cage with the odds in their favor, only to witness the belt change hands at the end of the night. So here are the top five most improbable title wins in UFC history.

Note: This list will include only upsets which occurred during the Zuffa era, meaning Maurice Smith defeating Mark Coleman is out of the picture.

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The 5 Most Unlikely Title Winners in UFC History

But Weidman wouldn’t be the first to pick up an unlikely win against a dominant fighter and champion.

Note: This list will include only upsets which occurred during the Zuffa era, meaning Maurice Smith defeating Mark Coleman is out of the picture.

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Chuck Liddell and the 7 Greatest Falls from Grace in MMA

The sport of MMA sees meteoric rises and long-standing greats, both of which can come in epic falls from the mountain top. All fighters find themselves declining at one point or another. Some fall particularly hard.This list looks at seven fighters who…

This list looks at seven fighters who had varying avenues of demise from MMA fame and dominance. Each has a particular reason for reaching the list, but each can be easily pointed to when one speaks of a “fall from grace” in MMA.

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UFC 162 Preview: B.J. Penn vs. Frankie Edgar Full Fight Video

Frankie Edgar has had a lot of UFC title fights. In fact, of his last seven fights with the UFC, all have been title bouts. In those contests, Edgar has a record of 3-3-1. When he steps into the Octagon at UFC 162 to face Charles Oliveira, it will be the first time Edgar has not fought for a UFC title since April 10, 2010, the date he ended the reign of UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn.

Edgar entered his UFC 112 bout against Penn riding a three-fight winning streak. Two of those three fights earned Edgar “Fight of the Night” bonus awards.

The oddsmakers looked at Edgar’s winning streak and record of 13-1 and said, ah, ain’t that cute, and made him a 450-point underdog to the 700-point favorite B.J. Penn. After all, Penn was (and still is) looked at as the greatest lightweight champion in UFC history.

Twenty-five minutes after the bout began, Penn’s reign had come to an end, as Edgar took home the unanimous decision (50-48, 48-47, 49-46) victory.

The FightMetric stats show that bout, at least on paper, was very evenly matched. Edgar landed 63 of 234 total strikes, while Penn landed 72 of 263 total strikes. Edgar was aggressive with his wrestling, attempting 13 takedowns over the course of the fight and having success on one of those attempts.

It should be noted that the takedown Edgar was successful on was the first time Penn had been taken to the mat as a lightweight since Takanori Gomi earned two takedowns against Penn at Rumble on the Rock 4 in October 2003.

What doesn’t show up on the stat sheet is the movement and feints Edgar used throughout the fight, throwing Penn off his rhythm and creating an elusive target. That movement could have been the difference, possibly convincing the judges that Edgar was in control of the bout.

Since defeating Penn, Edgar has gone 2-3-1, with one of those wins being a rematch with Penn. Edgar is currently riding a three-fight losing streak, and he’ll be facing significant pressure when he faces Oliveira, who is ranked outside the top 10 in the featherweight division, on July 6 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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