Former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar has finally been dealt his punishment from the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) for two failed drug tests before and after his UFC 200 win over Mark Hunt. Lesnar will be suspended for one year and will also pay a $250,000 fine in a settlement he reached with the Nevada attorney
Former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar has finally been dealt his punishment from the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) for two failed drug tests before and after his UFC 200 win over Mark Hunt.
Lesnar will be suspended for one year and will also pay a $250,000 fine in a settlement he reached with the Nevada attorney general’s office. The hulking WWE star tested positive for estrogen blocker Hydroxy-clomiphene twice during his match with Hunt, first in a June 28 out-of-competition test issued by the UFC’s anti-doping partner USADA, and the second directly after his co-main event bout with Hunt at the massive summer card, which he originally won by unanimous decision.
The win will be changed to a no contest, and the fine equals 10 percent of Lesnar’s then-record $2.5 million disclosed purse. The suspension almost definitely means the 39-year-old Lesnar, who had been out of MMA for almost five years when he shocked most by revealing his return in June, is finished fighting in the UFC.
His test failures have incited a monstrous backlash from Hunt, who has been irate in demanding half of Lesnar’s purse due to his belief his health was legitimately at risk. The fan favorite knockout slugger has publicly blasted the UFC for granting Lesnar a special exemption from the normal USADA returning procedure, supposedly turning down two fights and gearing up for a legal battle against his employers.
It remains to be seen what comes to fruition from that bitter battle, but Lesnar has been dealth essentially the same sit that former light heavyweight ruler Jon Jones received, interestingly enough, for testing positive for the same substance before his scheduled UFC 200 match-up with Daniel Cormier that was canceled.
Lesnar was allowed to fight, and he dominated. Was the punishment enough?
UFC heavyweight contender Mark Hunt is in a state of disarray at present. After losing a decision to Brock Lesnar at UFC 200, we learned ‘The Super Samoan’ had once again faced a fighter who could not get by the USADA (United States Anti Doping Agency) drug tests. News emerged that Lesnar had not only […]
UFC heavyweight contender Mark Hunt is in a state of disarray at present. After losing a decision to Brock Lesnar at UFC 200, we learned ‘The Super Samoan’ had once again faced a fighter who could not get by the USADA (United States Anti Doping Agency) drug tests. News emerged that Lesnar had not only failed a pre-fight drug test, but also a dope screen conducted on the night of the July 9 event had come back positive for banned substance Clomiphene.
The reason for the anti-estrogen being found in Lesnar’s sample is yet to be addressed by the promotion or the WWE superstar in public. To this day Hunt says he’s not heard anything from UFC president Dana White, and that’s ed to a number of scathing statements from the disgruntled 42-year old Pride FC veteran. Hunt first demanded Lesnar hand over his record-breaking $2.5 million purse from UFC 200, only to be shut down when the promotion revealed they would not fine Lesnar.
Brock Lesnar has his hand raised against Mark Hunt at UFC 200 on July 9, 2016…
‘The Super Samoan’ would go on the offensive against his employers and also USADA, blasting both parties for not presenting enough of a deterrent for drug cheats in MMA. He made some rather shocking accusations towards the UFC, none of which have been responded to, and publicly called for fighter to join his union.
Hunt’s points included questions regarding fighters safety against those using steroids, Lesnar’s two-year ban essentially being irrelevant now he’s pocketed the literal boat load of money, and also the possibility of criminal charges for fighters who are juicing.
Michael Bisping Supports Mark Hunt
One man who knows a lot about being the clean athlete taking on a division rampant with steroids is current UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping. His new-found success since the USADA era started is perhaps a sign of things to come for combat sports as a whole. Not surprisingly ‘The Count’ is sympathetic to Hunt’s plight.
We clean athletes can get fed up with the bullshit from time to time. https://t.co/NOWndYseTn
Bisping’s long history of fighting against competitors who would later go on to fail drug tests is eerily similar to Hunt’s recent run of opponents. Still to say the promotion is truly any closer to eradicating steroid cheats would be exaggerating greatly. Sure, they are catching a whole lot more, but these guys and girls are still trying their luck.
Mark Hunt will need as much support as he can get in unionizing the athletes of the UFC, and the middleweight champion Michael Bisping is a good start. The real question is how many fighters are actually likely to sack up and stand behind Hunt when push becomes shove?
UFC 200 took many hits of a wide variety in the lead up, on fight night and following the July 9 milestone event. After the rematch between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz was taken off the main event, fans began to wonder what star power was left given the busy nature of the rest of
UFC 200 took many hits of a wide variety in the lead up, on fight night and following the July 9 milestone event. After the rematch between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz was taken off the main event, fans began to wonder what star power was left given the busy nature of the rest of the champions and talent in the months prior to UFC 200. In the bag was Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones part 2, so not too bad after all, but that fight would not come to fruition.
‘Bones’ was announced to have failed a USADA (United States Anti Doping Agency) drug screen dating back to June 16 of this year. Jeff Novitsky dropped the game changer just three days prior to the event, and suddenly the card was in real trouble. A slight buffer was provided when Anderson Silva replaced Jones against ‘DC,’ but still an immeasurable amount of damage had been done to the card, especially in the midst of the UFC’s sale becoming official.
The woe and sorrow surrounding UFC 200 was far from blown over, as Brock Lesnar was later revealed to have also failed a USADA screen. His bust was announced after he’d trounced Mark Hunt for three rounds, leaving ‘The Super Samoan’ in a furious mood. The heavy hitting former K-1 champion would later declare he was starting a fighters union because of the scandalous events surrounding Lesnar’s UFC return. It was also later revealed that Lesnar had failed an in-competition test on the very day of UFC 200.
So what’s the score as far as the UFC are concerned? Arguably the two biggest stars of the card, both popped for estrogen blockers, and now face serious consequences from USADA. From the UFC though? Nothing, this coming from Marc Raimondi on Twitter:
Of course the Nevada State Athletic Commission and USADA will ultimately decide both fighter’s fates respectively, but the UFC not adding to their troubles will probably come as good news to Jon Jones and Brock Lesnar.
Attempting to rid the sport of performance-enhancing-drugs (PEDs), the UFC signed a deal with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) last summer to implement a new and stricter drug testing program. When the partnership was first announced, now former UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta famously stated that “it’s going to get a lot worse before it
Attempting to rid the sport of performance-enhancing-drugs (PEDs), the UFC signed a deal with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) last summer to implement a new and stricter drug testing program. When the partnership was first announced, now former UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta famously stated that “it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.” Perhaps he was right, as we’ve seen our fair share of fighters popped by USADA in recent memory.
In fact, we’ve seen two of the sport’s biggest stars notified of potential anti-doping violations in just the last few weeks alone. With that being said, it’s interesting to take a look back at USADA’s short history working with the UFC.
Whether it be the most shocking or the most impactful, let’s take a look at the six biggest busts by USADA in the UFC:
UFC heavyweight contender Mark Hunt is not a happy man right now. The events leading up to and after the July 9 UFC 200 card have left him bitter and disillusioned with his employers. He faced Brock Lesnar in the co-main event of UFC 200, but just one week after the fight was officially announced
UFC heavyweight contender Mark Hunt is not a happy man right now. The events leading up to and after the July 9 UFC 200 card have left him bitter and disillusioned with his employers. He faced Brock Lesnar in the co-main event of UFC 200, but just one week after the fight was officially announced ‘The Super Samoan’ already had grievances. USADA (United States Anti Doping Agency) granted a waiver for the WWE star to be able to compete at UFC 200 without the standard four-month testing window leading up to the event.
Hunt blasted the decision and claimed Lesnar would probably come in to UFC 200 ‘juiced to the gills.’ The pro wrestler turned up to the weigh-ins looking noticeably more shredded than at UFC 100, when he was closer to 30 than 40, but still we hadn’t heard of any failed drug tests at this point.
Lesnar showed up looking better than ever before, holding down and pummeling for the three-round duration of their bout. Wow, what a result, at least we thought at that time, until the USADA tests came back dirty. Lesnar had failed a dope screen on both the day of the event and on June 28. All of a sudden Pandora’s box was open again, and the overflow of anger and resentment from fans, fellow fighters and Mark Hunt himself has been unprecedented.
Not only was the legitimacy of the already waning UFC 200 thrown in to disrepute, but so was that of the promotion’s handling of Brock Lesnar’s return. Were they aware he’d be tanked up on illegal substances? What were we witnessing here? Out of all of this comes the pertinent question of what happens if a fighter gets seriously injured at the hands of someone who later fails a drug test.
Dec. 30, 2011; Las Vegas, NV, USA; UFC fighter Brock Lesnar during a heavyweight bout at UFC 141 at the MGM Grand Garden event center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
During an interview with MarkHunt.TV, the legendary ‘Super Samoan’ is still absolutely furious about this whole saga. He is now starting a fighters union because he feels mistreated and neglected by the UFC, claiming that fighters have lined the promotion’s pockets for too long now:
“The way I see it, the Brock Lesnar doping thing is just another reason why we need a fighter’s association,” Hunt said via phone interview. “These guys are just making up the rules as they go.
“First the Reebok thing, then Brock’s 4 month testing exemption. Conor gets pulled off a card for not going to a press conference that me or Brock didn’t go to anyway. Work that out. There’s probably a heap of others.”
“You just have to look at how Ariel gets his media pass taken away cause he broke a story about Brock, then he gets it back when other media stood up for him and called out the UFC.” He said. “These guys are just making sh*t it up as they go.
“Yet fighters refuse to support other fighters when they f*ck us over.
“They say they are cleaning up the sport, yet I’ve risked my health two times against guys cheating since this USADA thing started. I was told Brock was gonna be tested when I took the fight, he comes in looking fricken juicy as hell and then I find out he’s popped after the PPV has already been sold.
“It’s ridiculous. The fact that they haven’t even bothered to make contact with me since all of this happened just proves they don’t care.
“I don’t even know how he made 265lbs that guy, he looked about 500kgs. I mean shucks, look at the pictures and tell me this guy passed the smell test that Jeff guy talks about. I mean even the other passport stuff, which is supposed to be important for testing, they woulda had none of that from Brock because of the exemption.
“If you ask me the whole point of the four month testing period should be to make sure someone doesn’t pop back in, juiced to the gills, and beat the crap out of the guys who are clean and have been clean and tested this whole time.
“I’m pretty sure all of this stuff is just there to look good for the sale if you ask me.”
“Once they decided they were gunna cut Conor out, they didn’t care, they just needed a name to make 200 big.” he said. “Exemptions for Brock but not for Conor, I don’t know how you can just do that.
“These guys have lined there pockets with our blood if you ask me. I mean they deserve to get paid no doubt, they took the UFC from nothing into what it is today, but come on, most of the guys fighting, get paid nothing and have no benefits.
“If you ask me there needs to be a system where they at least run things past the fighters before making these decisions and the fighters can look out for each other. We need an association where we can have our voices heard. We are massive reason why fans watch the sport and we risk our health to do it.”
“I’m not worried about the UFC,” he said. “Shucks, I’ve been fighting my whole life. Fighting to survive in my home, to the ring and now cage. These guys didn’t even want me in the UFC but here I am. I’m not scared of them.
“I’m not sure what its like in the states, but in Australia workers stick together to make sure their voice is heard. Lots of guys have talked about this, but someone needs to make this happen and I’m happy for it to be me.”
“I mean shucks I’m not an expert on all this, but me and my team have been talking to the experts about how to make this a reality,” he said.
“To the fighters listening to this I want them to get in touch with me via my Facebook page and we can get thing going. I won’t name anyone until we sort it all out, but get in touch and lets make this happen.”
In the words of Nate Diaz – ‘I’m not surprised’ is the standard reaction to the news that broke last night (Friday July 16, 2016). Funnily enough its fellow UFC fighters who are sharing this sentiment about Brock Lesnar’s failed drug test in the wake of USADA’s (United States Anti Doping Agency) second major scalp
In the words of Nate Diaz – ‘I’m not surprised’ is the standard reaction to the news that broke last night (Friday July 16, 2016). Funnily enough its fellow UFC fighters who are sharing this sentiment about Brock Lesnar’s failed drug test in the wake of USADA’s (United States Anti Doping Agency) second major scalp in the span of two weeks. UFC 200, it seems, is perhaps the most cursed card of all time, as well as the most disappointing. All this drama coincides with the change of ownership of the promotion.
Mark Hunt, who lost a unanimous decision to ‘jacked white boy’ and WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) superstar Brock Lesnar on July 9 has since vocalised his displeasure. After learning ‘The Beast’ failed a dope screen dating back to June 28, ‘The Super Samoan’ has asked for half of Lesnar’s record-breaking $2.5 million purse. Either that, or Hunt will walk.
What seemed to be a successful partnership with the WWE is now turning in to a storm of bad media. Cross promotion between the two gargantuan entities in the middle of UFC 200 now has a sense of tragic comedy about it, and now Brock Lesnar has broken his silence on the failed USADA test. Read his official statement via The Star Phoenix:
“We will get to the bottom of this,”
Yes those eight words are actually how Lesnar responded to this dire mess. In terms of the after thoughts on the supposed-to-be historic show that was UFC 200, there aren’t many other way that the memory of that night could be soured any further.
There are no winners to emerge from this murky situation, only lessons to be learned. Nobody is safe from USADA, and once again some words from popular lightweight Nate Diaz ring true; EVERYONE IS ON STEROIDS!
Stay tuned to LowKickMMA for more updates on this developing story.
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