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Alistair Overeem Case Latest Example of UFC’s Weak Stance on PEDs

The UFC has a serious problem on its hands. This is bigger than the usual problems like free agent fighters and repairing injury-riddled cards. The UFC is at a serious crossroads when it comes to PED use, and it is not coming down on a side that the pu…

The talk, obviously, has been almost entirely focused on Alistair Overeem failing a pre-fight urine test just weeks before he was to fight Junior Dos Santos, nice guy extraordinaire, for the heavyweight title. The bout has been canceled (JDS will now face Frank Mir), which is both a huge disappointment for fans and likely a hit to the UFC’s wallet.

Make no mistake about where the UFC’s priorities lie, however. The promotion was at the helm of Overeem’s protest to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, a move that shows a blatant lack of integrity and demonstrates how much it cares about the sport itself.

No matter which way the UFC will try to spin it, there is only one message to be taken from its handling of Overeem: the UFC brass does not care about fighters’ steroid use unless they are caught, and organizers will do as little as possible when it comes to maintaining a safe, fair competition. This is not a message that should be sent, but it just keeps getting repeated.

There are several cases that demonstrate this unscrupulous policy. Though Dana White talks a big game about the UFC’s supposed cleanliness, the way he has handled several fighters tell a very different story.

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Nate Marquardt vs. Tyron Woodley Possible for Vacant Strikeforce Welterweight Title

(Pictured above: The REAL reason Nate Marquardt got fired.)

When taking a look at Nate Marquardt‘s Sherdog profile, we were kind of shocked to find that it has only been a little over a year since he last fought. Perhaps it was a result of his repeated delays when signed under the BAMMA banner some 6 months ago, but it feels like it has been a long time since we’ve seen the one-time UFC middleweight title contender in action. Like Gina Carano long.

And go figure, it all began with TRT. Because it always begins with TRT. After going 2-2 in his last four UFC fights, including a most recent UD win over Dan Miller at UFC 128, Marquardt was expected to make his welterweight debut against Rick Story at the main event of UFC Live 4. Things took a turn for the worse, however, when he was pulled from the card at the last minute for elevated testosterone levels. He was subsequently ousted by the UFC and replaced by Charlie Brenneman, who went on to score the upset over Story and completely derail his hype train.

News broke in February that Marquardt had signed with Strikeforce and was expected to face Tyron Woodley. No date was set for his ever-elusive welterweight debut, likely due to the fact that the Strikeforce website developers hadn’t yet learned how to spell Marquardt and couldn’t afford to scan the Word document twice.

Well, ladies and gents, a date has finally been set for the return of “The Great.”

(Pictured above: The REAL reason Nate Marquardt got fired.)

Well, ladies and gents, a date has finally been set for the return of “The Great.” Though the fight has yet to be confirmed by Strikeforce, it has been reportedly scheduled for the main card of the Heavyweight Tournament Finals match between Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier on May 19th. Also scheduled for this card is the mildly anticipated trilogy match between Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thompson for the lightweight title.

And according to Marquardt, his match against Woodley is going to be for the vacant welterweight title. Not bad for a guy who was among the men DW said would never fight for Zuffa again. Here’s what Marquardt told Inside MMA during a recent interview:

It’s the best outcome I could have imagined, with all this. Like I said. Back with Zuffa. Back in a title fight for my first fight back, it’s amazing. From what I understand, that’s who I’ll be fighting is Tyron Woodley. I also understand it’s gonna be a five round title fight for the 170 pound title. You know, he’s a smart fighter, but at the same time, I have a lot more experience than him. It’s gonna be my fight to dictate where it goes.

Dear God, we hope so. Woodley’s recent performances have been nothing short of Askrenian in terms of excitement, and we would really like to see him forced to resort to something other than his wrestling base.

The tentatively titled Strikeforce 40 goes down from the HP Pavillion in San Jose, California on May 19th.

So who do you like for this one, Potato Nation?

-J. Jones

Justify It Anyway You Want, TRT Is Cheating

In 2010, Chael Sonnen made popular the treatment called Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT). His testosterone ratio was almost 17 times that of the average man at the time of his urine sample collection at UFC 117, and Sonnen was proud of it. At a press conference during a Q&A session, Sonnen mockingly stated: “You’re telling me I’m one-tenth higher than the average man? Re-test that. You must have caught me on a low day.”

During his championship match with Anderson Silva, Sonnen shockingly dominated the Brazilian for almost the entire fight. Unfortunately for Sonnen, he couldn’t finish the task and was submitted in the fifth round.

This shockingly good performance by Sonnen against the top-ranked fighter on the planet led many to question whether his elevated testosterone levels played a major role in the beating that he dealt to Silva. But Silva also entered the fight with broken ribs, therefore a solid conclusion couldn’t be drawn.

Since then, multiple situations have brought the questionable treatment into the public eye. The treatment isn’t questionable from a medical perspective; it’s questionable from a sport perspective.

After his embarrassing loss to Ryan Bader, Rampage Jackson made claims of raising his testosterone levels to that of a 25-year-old with TRT. The problem with this equation is that Jackson isn’t 25 years old, he’s 33.

What’s troubling is that according to Jackson, a UFC doctor prescribed him the testosterone level of a 25-year-old. What these doctors seem to have forgotten is that a male’s testosterone level gradually decreases with age. In other words, a healthy 33-year-old male isn’t supposed to have the testosterone level of a 25-year-old.

Although Sonnen made the treatment popular, Jackson unintentionally exposed its fraudulence with his comments. His candidness with the media about it is possibly the cause of the latest falling-out between Jackson and the UFC.

Nate Marquardt, after his T:E ratio was deemed too high, claimed that his levels would have come down to normal within the time of the fight. What I ask is: come down from where?

Because of these recent incidences and the lack of strict regulation, it’s possible for athletes to maintain higher than normal testosterone levels during training and have them come down to normal levels at a pre-announced testing time, awarding them the benefits of steroids which include increase healing rate and muscle strength.

With the substance abuse picture becoming more and more clear over time, we are faced with the question: should athletes be allowed to exploit this obvious loophole? If an organization intends to maintain its legitimacy as a professional league, it shouldn’t.

Fighter safety, for both the TRT user and his opponent, is also a major issue that needs to be considered.

Justify it anyway you want. TRT is cheating.

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Tim Sylvia and 6 Fighters Who Need to Win Their Way Back to the UFC

The UFC is the premier organization in all of MMA. If you have ever watched The Ultimate Fighter, you know just how much it means to a fighter to break into the organization.However, the success it takes to break into the organization pales in comparis…

The UFC is the premier organization in all of MMA. If you have ever watched The Ultimate Fighter, you know just how much it means to a fighter to break into the organization.

However, the success it takes to break into the organization pales in comparison with the consistency and success it takes for fighters to stay. The UFC has no qualms about cutting a fighter that isn’t performing or happens to do wrong by Dana White.

Even the most entrenched fighters that have spent years in the organization have been cut with a bad performance or a few incidents working against them. However, the organization has also shown that they are capable of welcoming fighters back to the octagon if they are able to prove their worth outside of the organization.

Nick Diaz and Dan Henderson are higher-profile examples of fighters that left the organization for different reasons but were able to earn their way back by being relevant with other organizations.

Most recently, former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia has tried to talk his way back into the organization. He claimed he could beat 80 percent of the UFC heavyweight roster and matches up best with No. 1 contender Alistair Overeem.

Former UFC middleweight contender Patrick Cote took exception to that route, directly calling out Sylvia on Twitter.

Cote expanded upon his hopes to return to the octagon in a recent interview with MMAWeekly.

I don’t have a lot of control about the decision who is going to put me back in the UFC. My only power I have is be in shape and win fights and that’s what I’m doing. Three wins in a row, and I’m going for a fourth one. The UFC asked us to go to somebody better than my last two opponents, and with a winning record, so that’s exactly what we’re doing,

With Cote’s point in mind, here are six former UFC fighters who need to win to make their way back to the UFC.

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Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey Aftermath Pt. 2 — The Big Picture

And it was here, in this blighted place, that Strikeforce learned to live again… (Props: FoxSports.com)

The fact that a Strikeforce aftermath is being broken down into two separate posts is probably confusing most of our longtime readers, considering we’ve had so little to say about the organization leading up to last night’s Strikeforce card. Ever since Zuffa’s acquisition of the organization, our post-event recaps have focused on Strikeforce’s lack of a direction, now-meaningless titles and ever-diminishing roster. The organization clearly wasn’t going anywhere (i.e. going under), yet it also, well, wasn’t going anywhere (i.e. it wasn’t planning future growth). Yet last night, for the first time in a while, Strikeforce looked like an organization that could consistently provide MMA fans with intriguing, relevant matchups.

After all of the hype that Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate managed to create for last night’s bout, the ending could not have possibly gone better for Strikeforce. Exciting fight? Check. Dramatic finish? Check. And most importantly, Sarah Kaufman’s victory over Alexis Davis on the undercard established a clear challenger for the new champion who actually stands a chance at beating the champion. The biggest problem with Strikeforce’s title fights as of late has been the fact that the champions are simply too much better than anyone that Strikeforce can match them up with (Rockhold vs. Jardine, anyone?). While Rousey continued to look phenomenal in her short MMA career last night, former champion Sarah Kaufman provides another intriguing matchup for her. Back to back championship fights in a Strikeforce weight class that will pit the champion against a formidable opponent who is coming off of a victory: Now that’s encouraging.

And it was here, in this blighted place, that Strikeforce learned to live again… (Props: FoxSports.com)

For that matter, the victories from both Kazuo Misaki and Jacare Souza are significant for reasons other than a potential UFC call-up. After surprising Paul Daley with a diverse striking attack and surviving a nasty elbow from “Semtex”, Misaki pulled off the upset and won by split decision (don’t ask me what fight that third judge was watching). Even though Misaki doesn’t quite look ready for the UFC, Strikeforce actually has another competent challenger ready for him in Nate Marquardt, who holds two victories over Misaki in Pancrase. Pitting the two against each other makes sense, and should earn the winner a call-up to the majors. Likewise, Jacare displayed a much improved striking attack in his victory over Bristol Marunde. Given that his willingness to stand and trade punches with opponents essentially cost him his first fight against Luke Rockhold, it would be interesting to see how he matches up with the middleweight champion this time around. The bottom line here is that rather than shrugging our shoulders and asking “Okay, now what?”, there are logical matchups awaiting both fighters. It’s refreshing, to say the least.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t any reasons to keep being concerned for Strikeforce, as the event certainly produced some low points. After all of the talk about meaningful championship fights existing for Strikeforce, it’s sort of anti-climatic to bring up that Gilbert Melendez is going to fight Josh Thomson again, especially after his yawn-inducing fight against KJ Noons. Dana White’s recent announcement that he has essentially washed his hands of Strikeforce definitely doesn’t help matters either. And let’s not even start on how a major organization could allow a pedophile with white supremacist tattoos on television.

But after listening to Josh Barnett and Daniel Cormier hype up their clash on May 19th- no matter how insignificant the heavyweight tournament may be at this point- I genuinely feel excited about an upcoming Strikeforce card. I am genuinely curious about future Strikeforce title fights, even if the men’s belts have become meaningless. It’s been a while since I’ve been optimistic about Strikeforce- that’s got to be worth something.

–@SethFalvo

Strikeforce: Why Paul Daley-Nate Marquardt Needs to Happen

Regardless of whether Paul Daley wins or loses tonight, he should face Nate Marquardt in a future Strikeforce event.Even if he gets beaten by his opponent, Kazuo Misaki, tonight, it is still the best fight that Strikeforce can make. That is because it …

Regardless of whether Paul Daley wins or loses tonight, he should face Nate Marquardt in a future Strikeforce event.

Even if he gets beaten by his opponent, Kazuo Misaki, tonight, it is still the best fight that Strikeforce can make. That is because it is the most marketable.

Both Marquardt and Daley are famous for two reasons. One is for the time they spent in the UFC as top contenders.

The other is the fact that they are both exiled from the company via banishment by Dana White.

For Daley, it was after he punched Josh Koscheck after their match at UFC 113.

Marquardt was cut for testing positive for banned substances before a fight on Versus.

Both men have had controversy in the world of MMA and have been blackballed because of it.

A high-profile fight outside the company, a win over a top contender, could sway White’s decision about their status. Both of them are about as well-known as any fighter outside of the UFC fold can be.

There isn’t another fight in the division, let alone the company, that would produce as much attention as theirs.

It would help if they win their fights. Daley competes tonight against Misaki on the undercard. A knockout win would help raise his stature.

Marquardt is headed for a title fight with Tyron Woodley, as mentioned in an article by MMAJunkie.com

If both men were to fight for the title, it would improve their chances of getting back into the UFC and once again competing with some of the best fighters in the world.

All they need to do is fight. It’s what they do best, even when they can’t compete with the best.

That may change by the end of the year if they can square off with each other. Both men have survived getting fired by the UFC, but if they want to fight at the top level in MMA, they’ll need something more then a good match or a win streak.

They’ll need each other.

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