(Can we go back to those innocent, joyful days when you didn’t give a damn about your favorite fighter’s T/E ratio? / Photo via MMAWeekly)
By Jon Mariani
Drugs are bad, m’kay? At least that’s the conventional wisdom regarding the use of performance enhancing drugs in mixed martial arts. For the past 12 years, state athletic commissions as well as the UFC have tried to combat steroid use (and hormone therapy abuse) through pre- and post-fight testing, and punitive measures like suspensions and fines.
Some would argue that commissions and promoters should go even further with their anti-PED efforts, enacting more stringent testing for athletes. We say, what’s the point? Why burn so much money and man-hours trying to eradicate a problem that can never be eradicated? Ultimately, it might be better for the sport if all MMA fighters were allowed to use PEDs. Seriously. Here’s why that might not be the worst idea in the world…
It Would Level the Playing Field
When asked what percentage of fighters in MMA currently use PEDs, the most conservative response is usually around 50% of fighters; on the other side of the spectrum, estimates from fighters themselves go as as high as 90%. If those numbers are to be trusted, that would mean the majority of fighters currently use PEDs. It makes sense that so many fighters are using considering how poor the current testing is.
The fighters who don’t use PEDs face a clear disadvantage when they step into the cage against opponents who do. There’s also the murky waters of testosterone replacement therapy hall passes, which are being given away like candy. Legalizing PEDs would mean that all fighters could use, which would mean fighters who would like to use but currently don’t because it’s illegal would get on the gear. For the first time since athletic commissions began drug-testing MMA fighters, competition would be truly fair.
(Can we go back to those innocent, joyful days when you didn’t give a damn about your favorite fighter’s T/E ratio? / Photo via MMAWeekly)
By Jon Mariani
Drugs are bad, m’kay? At least that’s the conventional wisdom regarding the use of performance enhancing drugs in mixed martial arts. For the past 12 years, state athletic commissions as well as the UFC have tried to combat steroid use (and hormone therapy abuse) through pre- and post-fight testing, and punitive measures like suspensions and fines.
Some would argue that commissions and promoters should go even further with their anti-PED efforts, enacting more stringent testing for athletes. We say, what’s the point? Why burn so much money and man-hours trying to eradicate a problem that can never be eradicated? Ultimately, it might be better for the sport if all MMA fighters were allowed to use PEDs. Seriously. Here’s why that might not be the worst idea in the world…
It Would Level the Playing Field
When asked what percentage of fighters in MMA currently use PEDs, the most conservative response is usually around 50% of fighters; on the other side of the spectrum, estimates from fighters themselves go as as high as 90%. If those numbers are to be trusted, that would mean the majority of fighters currently use PEDs. It makes sense that so many fighters are using considering how poor the current testing is.
The fighters who don’t use PEDs face a clear disadvantage when they step into the cage against opponents who do. There’s also the murky waters of testosterone replacement therapy hall passes, which are being given away like candy. Legalizing PEDs would mean that all fighters could use, which would mean fighters who would like to use but currently don’t because it’s illegal would get on the gear. For the first time since athletic commissions began drug-testing MMA fighters, competition would be truly fair.
Prohibition Does Not Work
First we can look at the alcohol prohibition enacted in the 1920s and discern what an utter failure it was. Then we can look the current ‘War on drugs’ and see how well that is going. Drug prohibition has never worked and may never work, so wouldn’t a better option be to turn to regulation?
Alex Rodriguez was recently busted in the Biogenesis scandal. But was it because he failed a drug test? No. Despite enhancing their testing methods, the MLB was unable to catch A-Rod cheating. The situation came to light only because Dr. Pedro Bosch, the medical director of Biogenesis of America, agreed to work with MLB investigators.
The occasional high-profile steroid busts in MMA only scratch the surface of what’s happening in terms of PED usage among fighters, and athletic commissions simply don’t have the firepower to do anything about it. Let’s stop pretending that it’s a problem we can fix, and start facing reality.
Fans Simply Do Not Care
The revitalization of Vitor Belfort‘s career was one of the best stories of 2013. With three consecutive head-kick knockouts of increasingly decorated opponents, The Phenom truly lived up to his nickname. Whether or not he receives a therapeutic use exemption for his fight with Chris Weidman in July, the event will likely sell out and produce a significant amount of pay-per-view buys. The reason the numbers will not be affected by Belfort’s testosterone use, is because most casual fans don’t care if fighters are on PEDs. In fact, in this day and age most people expect fighters to be on something.
If you frequent any MMA forum, you will likely find members who either defend PED usage, or are simply indifferent to the issue. Most people want their favorite fighters to fight often and produce spectacular violence. If using PEDs allows athletes to train longer, recover faster, and increase their power, isn’t that exactly what we want? Don’t we want our favorite fighters to have long careers, so they can compete at an advanced age with all their skills and experience intact? If a relatively few amount of observers have an issue with PED use and fans are able to reap the benefits of athletes using them, where exactly is the problem?
(Dammit, Chael. We can never stay mad at you. / Photo via Getty)
Since it was first published in July 2009, our MMA Steroid Busts: The Definitive Timeline feature has grown to become the Internet’s most complete history of fighter PED use — as well as the busted fighters’ resulting excuses. But with the recent rise of testosterone replacement therapy, things began to get complicated. Should the list include a fighter who got caught with a 20:1 T/E ratio, even if he didn’t test positive for a particular steroid? It’s become clear that testosterone abuse is the new Stanozolol and we’ll be talking about this issue for years to come, so to keep things nice and neat, we’ve decided to stick every failed drug test for elevated testosterone on page 2 of the timeline.
Separating the testosterone busts into their own group revealed this damning statistic: “Of the aforementioned fighters who tested positive for elevated testosterone after fights, 1 was successful in those fights, while 4 were unsuccessful.” It’s too early to draw any hard conclusions, but TRT abuse may turn out to be the most useless unfair advantage in all of MMA.
Check out the new testosterone busts page of the Steroid Bust Timeline right here, and please let us know if we’ve forgotten any.
(Dammit, Chael. We can never stay mad at you. / Photo via Getty)
Since it was first published in July 2009, our MMA Steroid Busts: The Definitive Timeline feature has grown to become the Internet’s most complete history of fighter PED use — as well as the busted fighters’ resulting excuses. But with the recent rise of testosterone replacement therapy, things began to get complicated. Should the list include a fighter who got caught with a 20:1 T/E ratio, even if he didn’t test positive for a particular steroid? It’s become clear that testosterone abuse is the new Stanozolol and we’ll be talking about this issue for years to come, so to keep things nice and neat, we’ve decided to stick every failed drug test for elevated testosterone on page 2 of the timeline.
Separating the testosterone busts into their own group revealed this damning statistic: “Of the aforementioned fighters who tested positive for elevated testosterone after fights, 1 was successful in those fights, while 4 were unsuccessful.” It’s too early to draw any hard conclusions, but TRT abuse may turn out to be the most useless unfair advantage in all of MMA.
Check out the new testosterone busts page of the Steroid Bust Timeline right here, and please let us know if we’ve forgotten any.
He looks unnaturally bare, like a hairless cat. He looks like he lost his traps in a car accident. He looks like his head grew two sizes. He looks like he skipped leg day. He looks kind of sad. He looks like a normal human being, and I’m not prepared for it. First a skinny Roy Nelson, and now this? It’s too much. I’m going to go lie down for a while.
He looks unnaturally bare, like a hairless cat. He looks like he lost his traps in a car accident. He looks like his head grew two sizes. He looks like he skipped leg day. He looks kind of sad. He looks like a normal human being, and I’m not prepared for it. First a skinny Roy Nelson, and now this? It’s too much. I’m going to go lie down for a while.
“What happened was basically I was on TRT, I just didn’t disclose it to the athletic commission. It was my mistake. I was taking such little amounts; me and my doctor didn’t think anything was going to pop up, like it’s no big deal. I guess any time you’re taking any kind of testosterone it’s going to show on the test. So that’s basically what I got popped for.
“You know, if you take steroids they’ll suspend you for a year. I wasn’t taking steroids. I was prescribed [TRT] by a doctor. They suspended me for nine months, and I ended up showing them my prescription from my doctor and everything. They ended up reducing it to six months. That was it. Unfortunately I got released from the UFC, and messed up the good opportunity.”
Two questions immediately come to mind: 1) Who the hell is Lavar Johnson’s doctor? He “didn’t think anything was going to pop up, like it’s no big deal”? “I guess any time you’re taking any kind of testosterone it’s going to show on the test”?? Are you fucking kidding me? What did they think was going to happen to Johnson’s testosterone levels when he started taking TRT?
“What happened was basically I was on TRT, I just didn’t disclose it to the athletic commission. It was my mistake. I was taking such little amounts; me and my doctor didn’t think anything was going to pop up, like it’s no big deal. I guess any time you’re taking any kind of testosterone it’s going to show on the test. So that’s basically what I got popped for.
“You know, if you take steroids they’ll suspend you for a year. I wasn’t taking steroids. I was prescribed [TRT] by a doctor. They suspended me for nine months, and I ended up showing them my prescription from my doctor and everything. They ended up reducing it to six months. That was it. Unfortunately I got released from the UFC, and messed up the good opportunity.”
Two questions immediately come to mind: 1) Who the hell is Lavar Johnson’s doctor? He “didn’t think anything was going to pop up, like it’s no big deal”? “I guess any time you’re taking any kind of testosterone it’s going to show on the test”?? Are you fucking kidding me? What did they think was going to happen to Johnson’s testosterone levels when he started taking TRT?
And 2) Dude, are you sure you want to admit all of this in a public forum? Johnson didn’t disclose the TRT because he knew it was, on some level, cheating. Maybe he wouldn’t have even been able to obtain an official exemption, because then he’d have to prove a need for it, which might have been non-existent. Essentially, his explanation is “I only took a little bit of it because I thought I wouldn’t get caught. Oh well, lesson learned.”
“I just don’t even want to take the chance or anything. I’m just going to ride out my career natural. If I get hurt, or if I can’t compete with these guys, then I just won’t fight.
“A lot of people look down on [TRT]. I don’t want to be that guy. I don’t want people to think I need it to be a good fighter to compete with these guys. I’ve been knocking people out since I was like 14 years old. If I can’t compete, and I keep getting injured, then I’ll just be done.”
According to a new report on MMAJunkie, St. Pierre will indeed go forward with enhanced drug testing conducted by VADA and will be tested by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, while Hendricks will only participate in the NSAC’s testing. Hendricks’s apparent refusal to cooperate with the VADA program raised our suspicions at first, but it turns out there’s another side to the story, and it’s one that paints the champ in an unflattering light.
St. Pierre and Hendricks’s gentlemen’s agreement about additional drug-testing began to fall apart when Hendricks’s manager Ted Ehrhardt discovered that VADA would be paying for GSP’s testing, contradicting St. Pierre’s initial claim that he would be paying for the testing of both fighters out of his own pocket. (“Hendricks’ camp balked at the idea of their opponent partnering with a drug testing body that was supposed to be independent, and they favored the WADA program,” writes Junkie.)
A conference call was arranged to sort it out, and that’s when things got complicated:
(“Lift these ten-pound dumbbells for just 20 minutes a day, and all your friends will think you’re on steroids — guaranteed.” / Props: GSP RUSHFIT)
According to a new report on MMAJunkie, St. Pierre will indeed go forward with enhanced drug testing conducted by VADA and will be tested by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, while Hendricks will only participate in the NSAC’s testing. Hendricks’s apparent refusal to cooperate with the VADA program raised our suspicions at first, but it turns out there’s another side to the story, and it’s one that paints the champ in an unflattering light.
St. Pierre and Hendricks’s gentlemen’s agreement about additional drug-testing began to fall apart when Hendricks’s manager Ted Ehrhardt discovered that VADA would be paying for GSP’s testing, contradicting St. Pierre’s initial claim that he would be paying for the testing of both fighters out of his own pocket. (“Hendricks’ camp balked at the idea of their opponent partnering with a drug testing body that was supposed to be independent, and they favored the WADA program,” writes Junkie.)
A conference call was arranged to sort it out, and that’s when things got complicated:
The UFC set up the call with the fighters’ managers, trainer Firas Zahabi, UFC officials and [NSAC Executive Director Keith] Kizer on the basis that St-Pierre said he would pay for additional screening, Kizer said. The promotion had approached the NSAC about the program after hearing the commission would use it in advance of a WBO title bout between welterweight champ Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez on Oct. 12 in Las Vegas, Kizer said.
The program, which was detailed by the NSAC during the call, is run by a WADA-accredited lab in Salt Lake City. The NSAC currently employs out-of-competition testing, but the new lab moves closer to what Kizer calls “enhanced drug testing,” or what many say is Olympic-style testing.
In Bradley and Marquez’s case, promoter Top Rank agreed to pay the costs associated with random tests and have the results forwarded to the NSAC. In St-Pierre and Hendricks’ case, however, it was undecided who would foot the bill on the WADA program, which the commission doesn’t cover, Kizer said.
The two sides split on who would pay for the testing. St-Pierre’s camp expressed a preference to use VADA, which they said had agreed to partially pay for costs, according to Kizer…When informed of the WADA program’s cost, St-Pierre’s camp said they preferred to use VADA.
“I made it quite clear that if you guys want to do additional testing on your own, that’s fine,” Kizer said. “But if you’re serious about it and you’re not looking to hire someone yourself to do it, I said, ‘This is how you do it. We’re happy to help you help us, but that’s a decision you need to make because you need to fund it.’”
Kizer, however, also was concerned when St-Pierre’s reps asked questions about the list of substances the WADA program tests for, in addition to when the drug tests would be conducted and who would conduct them.
“They were asking, ‘Well, what do you test for?’ My answer is always the same: We test for prohibited substances as listed on the WADA list,” Kizer said. “(They said), ‘Well, what does that mean? Does that mean HGH, does that mean this, does that mean that?’ Yes, it means it all. The answer then should have been, ‘OK.’”
After more discussion, St-Pierre’s rep, whom Kizer identified as the fighter’s lawyer, Rodolphe Beaulieu, stood firm on using VADA.
“OK, fine, use VADA,” Kizer said of his response. “That’s not the question. The question is do you want to do outside testing through the athletic commission? And basically, they said we want to know all the tests you do so Georges’ medical advisors can vet the test first before we decide.
“I said, ‘I will take that as a no. We will let you know if we’re going to do any testing on our own. Goodbye.’”
Kizer said Beaulieu then tried to backtrack by saying St-Pierre wasn’t opposed to the WADA program.
“The guy actually had the gall – this Rodolphe guy – (to say), ‘Well, no, that’s not what we meant. We’re happy to do it once we get this additional information, but I’m going to be gone for the next seven days, and I’m unavailable via cell phone or email.’ It’s like, whatever dude. It was so ridiculous. But I don’t hold any of that against Georges St-Pierre. As far as I know, he doesn’t even know about these things…
“I don’t know if it’s just his people being overly aggressive, or trying to act as agents of VADA – I have no clue, and I don’t care,” Kizer said. “But when an athlete’s representative is basically saying, ‘Well, he’s interested in perhaps doing enhanced testing, but we need to know – and more importantly, his medical advisors need to know – all the ins and outs of the testing before he’ll agree to it,’ that’s a no. That’s a refusal, and that’s fine.
“Fighters are able to do this testing (from VADA). But I’m not looking to being used in this pissing match with these athletes saying, ‘I’m going to do this enhanced testing. If my opponent doesn’t, that means he’s dirty.’ No, it doesn’t. If they want to play those games, that’s between them. I’m not going to take any sides. Georges St-Pierre and Johny Hendricks have both been great licensees in the past. I expect them to be great licensees in the future. But they definitely both will be tested by the commission. How often, and when, is up to us.”
Talk about losing control of a story. For once in his career, George St. Pierre was going to be the guy implying that his opponent might be using PEDs, instead of the guy who’s constantlyfieldingthose accusations himself. But now, the agreement is off because his lawyer needed to know exactly which substances would be tested for. (To say nothing about the weird backtracking on his offer to pay for the whole thing. Jeez dude, check out the price list beforehand.)
St. Pierre’s intention to pursue VADA testing was done with the express purpose to battle the perception — mostly held by his opponents — that he’s a possible drug cheat. But now, this story will only give more credence to the idea that GSP has something to hide.
If you follow baseball, you may already be aware of the ongoing Biogenesis scandal. In short, an ex-employee of a Miami-based steroid clinic leaked hundreds of pages of documents from the clinic to the Miami New Times earlier this year, identifying several big-name MLB players as clients. The Milwaukee Brewers’ Ryan Braun has already been suspended for the rest of this season, and A-Rod’s suspension is imminent. Unfortunately (and unsurprisingly), Biogenesis’s shady operation wasn’t limited to baseball. From a new ESPN report:
The man who turned the Biogenesis clinic from a quiet investigation in Miami into a national scandal says there are at least a dozen more athletes whose names haven’t been exposed and that they come from across the sports world.
Porter Fischer, the former Biogenesis of Miami clinic employee who turned boxes of documents over to the Miami New Times last year, declined to name the athletes. But in his first television interview, Fischer told “Outside the Lines” that numerous sports had at least one athlete who received performance-enhancing drugs from clinic founder Tony Bosch.
“This isn’t a 2013 thing or a 2012 thing; some of these people have been on the books since 2009,” Fischer said.
Fischer said he and associates have identified athletes from the NBA, NCAA, professional boxing, tennis and MMA, in addition to other professional baseball players who have not yet been identified. As far as he knows, Fischer said, Bosch had no clients from the NFL or NHL…
If you follow baseball, you may already be aware of the ongoing Biogenesis scandal. In short, an ex-employee of a Miami-based steroid clinic leaked hundreds of pages of documents from the clinic to the Miami New Times earlier this year, identifying several big-name MLB players as clients. The Milwaukee Brewers’ Ryan Braun has already been suspended for the rest of this season, and A-Rod’s suspension is imminent. Unfortunately (and unsurprisingly), Biogenesis’s shady operation wasn’t limited to baseball. From a new ESPN report:
The man who turned the Biogenesis clinic from a quiet investigation in Miami into a national scandal says there are at least a dozen more athletes whose names haven’t been exposed and that they come from across the sports world.
Porter Fischer, the former Biogenesis of Miami clinic employee who turned boxes of documents over to the Miami New Times last year, declined to name the athletes. But in his first television interview, Fischer told “Outside the Lines” that numerous sports had at least one athlete who received performance-enhancing drugs from clinic founder Tony Bosch.
“This isn’t a 2013 thing or a 2012 thing; some of these people have been on the books since 2009,” Fischer said.
Fischer said he and associates have identified athletes from the NBA, NCAA, professional boxing, tennis and MMA, in addition to other professional baseball players who have not yet been identified. As far as he knows, Fischer said, Bosch had no clients from the NFL or NHL…
The athletes not yet publicly named come from the documents Fischer took from the clinic, documents he said another employee asked him to take for safekeeping. The number of athletes involved with the clinic, based on what he saw and heard during his time with Biogenesis, is far more than people realize, he said.
“In just the four years that I know, it’s got to be well over a hundred, easy,” he said. “It’s almost scary to think about how many people have gone through [Bosch’s treatments] and how long he’s gotten away with this.”
Bosch has been cooperating with MLB for more than a month, providing what sources have said are extensive records of his connection to 20 to 25 players.
Speaking purely speculatively, I doubt that anyone involved with a high end, designer drug outfit like Biogenesis is some low or mid-card dwelling fringe UFC talent. The costs involved here are likely so high that it would seem likely that anyone involved would be much more high profile than that.
So…Miami-based clinic. High-profile MMA fighters with money to spend. Hmm. To avoid another unnecessary lawsuit, we’re not going to connect the dots for you, but there are a few fighters who immediately come to mind. We’ll update you when these fighters are named. And if that happens, the UFC will get the most unwelcome kind of mainstream media attention. Brace yourselves for the incoming shitstorm.
