Tag: MMA

Rashad Evans Believes Greg Jackson Turned His Back on His Original Fighters

We’ve got less than two weeks remaining until Jon Jones and Rashad Evans finally step in the cage at UFC 145 in Atlanta. The pair continue to fire shots at one another, building the hype for what should ultimately be one of the UFC’s biggest bouts of 2…

We’ve got less than two weeks remaining until Jon Jones and Rashad Evans finally step in the cage at UFC 145 in Atlanta. The pair continue to fire shots at one another, building the hype for what should ultimately be one of the UFC’s biggest bouts of 2012.

But it’s no longer an issue strictly between Jones and Evans. As I expected, coaches Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn have been pulled into the mix after hearing Evans blast them on numerous occasions.

Winkeljohn recently told Bleacher Report that he convinced Jackson to corner Jones in the fight after Evans continually threw Jackson under the bus and blamed him for the split that led Evans to leave his longtime fight camp and head to Florida. Winkeljohn says he’s still cool with Evans, but that enough was enough: 

But he upset me in that he kept throwing Greg under the bus. Enough’s enough. You have your disagreements, I understand that, but there’s more important things out there and it’s time for Greg to work in Jon’s corner.

Evans told USA Today that he isn’t really mad at Jackson for deciding to corner Jones. After all, it’s what he expected to happen from the beginning:

I’m not surprised. Once Greg said that he was able to stay at his gym, I knew he was going to work with him. I knew he was going to corner him. And that’s fine. I expected him to do that.

That’s just Greg for you. I can’t be mad at somebody for being himself, you know?

Evans also believes Jackson has turned his back on the people that helped turn him into an elite MMA coach:

It’s like — who would Greg Jackson be if it wasn’t for the original fighters who really put Greg Jackson on the map? Nobody would be hearing about him. Nobody would be hearing about this gym that he has in Albuquerque. He would just be a guy who likes fighting and who coaches guys.

But to turn your back and to against the grain on people who made you who you really are — to me, that’s just low.

We’ve heard plenty of talk from Evans, Jones and Jackson at this point. You know who I really want to hear from? Keith Jardine. “The Dean of Mean” was one of Evans’ best friends in the camp. As Evans rightly points out in the USA Today interview, he and Jardine were two of the fighters who helped turn Jackson’s camp into one of the most well-known in the sport.

I’d like to hear what Jardine has to say about the rift between Evans and Jones/Jackson/Winkeljohn. Something tells me we’d get something closer to the whole truth than we’ve gotten thus far.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC: Victor Conte Says 90 Percent of Athletes Use Performance Enhancing Drugs

The infamous Victor Conte, the man behind one of the biggest steroid abuse scandals in US sports history, was on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Hour last night charging the vast majority of UFC fighters of using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) and accusi…

The infamous Victor Conte, the man behind one of the biggest steroid abuse scandals in US sports history, was on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Hour last night charging the vast majority of UFC fighters of using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) and accusing Dana White of turning a blind eye.

“Do I believe that 90%… are using some sort of performance enhancing drug in the UFC? I do,” said Conte. “But there are those that do not and I think that number’s going to grow over time. They realize that the testing is weak. The Nevada Commission’s testing is weak.”

Conte was the man behind the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO) which supplied athletes with undetectable PEDs until the whole operation came crashing down following a federal investigation in 2003. After serving several months in prison for his role at BALCO, Conte has come out as a crusader pointing the finger at the absurdity of drug testing in sport.

Conte says that both the UFC and state athletics commissions, such as the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), should be doing more.

“And listen, Dana White’s a very smart man. [NSAC executive director] Keith Kizer’s a very smart man, and he’s an attorney. But the logic for argument that they present in this particular situation just does not fly,” Conte told Helwani. “There are options available. Is it ever going to be perfect, is it ever going to be foolproof? The answer is no. But can it be much more effective, and can the use of [testosterone-replacement therapy] and other anabolic steroids and performance-enhancing drugs, can the rampant use be significantly reduced? I believe it can and I believe there’s some simple answers.”

 

Such accusations, that the majority of fighters are on PEDs, aren’t new either. Last year, UFC light-heavyweight Krzysztof Soszynski also laid a similar charge during Helwani’s MMA Hour.

“I would definitely say somewhere in the percentage of 85% of guys are definitely using, especially the guys who can afford it are definitely using” said Krzysztof. “I would even go as high as 95-96% of the top level athletes that are definitely using it. You can clearly see it.”

These numbers may sound wildly outlandish, especially coming from an athlete who admitted to having used PEDs in the past himself, but considering the  scandals that engulfed Major League Baseball and cycling in recent years, such systemic and widespread use of PEDs has many precedents in sport.

Take for example the whole issue surrounding testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). This topic blew up after Chael Sonnen failed a drugs test following his fight against Anderson Silva in 2010. No synthetic substance was found in his body, however, his ratio of testosterone-epitestosterone revealed he had been using.

At the time, the NSAC accepted his TRT excuse, despite accusing him of failing to follow procedures in order to get his use approved. Since then, a whole series of MMA fighters have been revealed to have obtained testosterone-use exemptions (TUEs) on medical grounds.

“[If] it was similar in structure to testosterone, a testosterone derivative or a modified testosterone molecule… These derivatives always show on mass-spectrometry tests and so athletes are gravitating towards using pure testosterone,” said Conte on Helwani’s show. “This is why you see so many athletes are doing TRT, because the testing has taken away designer steroids, and now what’s left is this huge loophole involving micro-dosing of testosterone.”

“I don’t think you go with an outright ban, I think you have a very strict protocol in being granted a TRT… But do I think that 99.9% of cases where they’re granting these [TUEs] is complete BS? I do,” he added.

TRT use is a convenient loophole for any would-be cheat. It effectively allows athletes to use as much steroids as they want, as long as they are within the normal range of testosterone come fight time. This problem was exposed by the case of Nate Marquardt last year.

Marquardt had a TUE under the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board. This meant that he would automatically pass the T/E ratio test, because any use of the synthetic test would skew those numbers.

What he was not allowed, under his exemption, was to have higher than normal test levels. Nate’s levels, though trending down over the last week before the fight, still failed to fall to within the range required in time for him to be cleared to fight.

What does this say about the TRT loophole? Well, a fighter with a TUE could use extreme amounts of testosterone during training, as long as he times it so that come fight night his levels fall back within the normal range. That’s a loophole you can drive a tank through.

 

For more MMA goodness, checkout my blog: The Fight Week

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Heels: Alistair Overeem, Brock Lesnar and MMA’s 20 Biggest Bad Guys

As you may recall, last week I listed the biggest “babyfaces” in MMA. This week, we were sitting around the virtual newsroom and decided we should close the loop by banging out some slides on …

As you may recall, last week I listed the biggest “babyfaces” in MMA. This week, we were sitting around the virtual newsroom and decided we should close the loop by banging out some slides on MMA‘s biggest heels. 

Give a big assist on this to last week’s MMA news cycle. First, Alistair Overeem scorched a toilet bowl with his Bane-level testosterone. Then, Brock Lesnar made a dramatic return to dramatic combat performance art on Monday Night Raw, during which time he attacked Jon Cena, whom I believe may be the champion and/or a popular figure. So it was a busy week on the heel front. 

Before we go any further, I do remember reading something somewhere about Brock Lesnar retiring from mixed martial arts. It’s hazy, but I remember. But you know what? I don’t care. No way he’s not going on this list. Other than him, it’s active fighters only. Here, why don’t we say this list covers active as of Dec. 30, 2011? There we go.

Also, as with the companion list, this covers public personas only (hence the pro wrestling comparison). If so-and-so didn’t sign your cousin’s T-shirt one time, I’m sorry, but it doesn’t mean he necessarily belongs on this list. 

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UFC on Fuel 2: Full Card Analysis and Predictions

This weekend, the UFC comes live from Sweden on Fuel TV. Headlined by Swedish star Alexander Gustafsson and savage Brazilian Thiago Silva, it is sure to be a historic night for Swedish fans.In the co-main event, Brian Stann and Alessio Sakara square of…

This weekend, the UFC comes live from Sweden on Fuel TV. Headlined by Swedish star Alexander Gustafsson and savage Brazilian Thiago Silva, it is sure to be a historic night for Swedish fans.

In the co-main event, Brian Stann and Alessio Sakara square off in what is sure to be an exciting striking affair. Stann is an American hero for his work with the United States Marines, which has earned him a wide fan base. Sakara is an Italian striker, who has run into a string of injuries coming into this fight.

Let’s take a closer look at this card, which will take place Saturday during the late morning and early afternoon. 

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Mark Hunt Says That Everything Alistair Overeem Has Done Is Meaningless

The #Rally4MarkHunt movement has reached epic proportions. Fans around the world continue to bombard Dana White, Lorenzo Fertitta and others associated with the UFC in the hopes of getting the man with the 8-7 record a world heavyweight title shot.As I…

The #Rally4MarkHunt movement has reached epic proportions. Fans around the world continue to bombard Dana White, Lorenzo Fertitta and others associated with the UFC in the hopes of getting the man with the 8-7 record a world heavyweight title shot.

As I said last Thursday, Hunt isn’t a legitimate title contender. Not yet, anyway. That’s not to say that he won’t eventually get there, because I think he only really needs one more emphatic win to earn proper consideration.

All of the clamor from fans has earned Hunt plenty of attention from media in recent days. He appeared on the MMA Hour yesterday to discuss a recent hot-button issue: the drug test failure of fellow heavyweight Alistair Overeem. 

Hunt held nothing back when discussing Overeem:

Drugs in all sports is a big problem. It’s a cutthroat business, people take this shit just to get by. I don’t use that shit, but when Alistair takes that shit or whoever takes it they just screw themselves out. Like when Barnett screwed himself out of the fight with Fedor.

But who am I to judge anybody? I don’t take that shit and no one else should. If they do, that’s on them. Alistair is now in court, and everything that Alistair has done is meaningless now. At the end of the day he just got caught cheating, so what’s the deal? I lost to him, so did he use that shit when I was fighting him? That’s on him. He has to live with that shit. It’s not my position to judge him. He has to look himself in the mirror.

Fighters tend to adopt a neutral stance when discussing sensitive subjects involving other fighters, at least in public. If you get them away from the cameras and the audio recorders, they’ll often tell you exactly how they feel about the fighter who tested positive for steroids.

Or the fighter who currently has three girlfriends that live within two miles of the house he shares with his stay-at-home wife. Or the fighter who has the biggest fight of his career coming up, yet spends more time at the beach with questionable company than he does at the gym.

It’s good to hear Hunt truly speaking his mind. He has nothing to lose. He was never expected to get into the UFC in the first place, and he only earned a fight there because of a contract technicality.

He’s in the midst of one of the greatest comeback stories in the history of the sport, but doesn’t care if he wins or loses or offends anyone else with the things he says.

He wasn’t supposed to be here, after all. And if you’re offended by something he says, well, that’s your problem.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

The 25 Best Finishers in MMA Today

Undoubtedly one of the major contributing factors into MMA’s popularity is the aspect of finishing an opponent. With smaller gloves and the ground game, a fight can literally end at any moment.It’s one of the features of the sport that has propelled it…

Undoubtedly one of the major contributing factors into MMA‘s popularity is the aspect of finishing an opponent. With smaller gloves and the ground game, a fight can literally end at any moment.

It’s one of the features of the sport that has propelled it past boxing for a number of younger adults. Knowing that a fight could end at any instant and not having to watch a long, drawn-out decision is certainly appealing to a younger generation.

A number of fighters have used their ability to finish an opponent to become some of the most popular fighters in today’s MMA. Whether it be via KO or submission, all of these fighters have talents to end their opponent’s night at any point in a fight.

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