Shortly after Chael Sonnen’s win over former two-time world champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC Fight Night 26, the Oregon native was called out by another former world champion, Wanderlei Silva.
In a video released by Silva, t…
Shortly after Chael Sonnen’s win over former two-time world champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC Fight Night 26, the Oregon native was called out by another former world champion, Wanderlei Silva.
Sonnen, I will punch your face in…I will make you swallow your teeth, you loser…I will go in to show Sonnen what happens when someone disrespects our nation…You (Sonnen) will get a beating…I will hurt you. I will break your nose with my knee. From there, you will go straight to the surgeon to fix your nose. I will break your nose in this fight.
However, Silva recently became injured and, according to UFC president Dana White, would not be cleared to fight until early next year. Therefore, on September 4, 2013, Sonnen agreed to fight former 205-pound champion and fellow FOX Sports analyst Rashad Evans at UFC 167. The event will be held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on November 16, 2013.
Evans is coming off a significant win over former three-time world champion Dan Henderson. Currently, the New York native is the UFC’s No. 5 light heavyweight contender. A win over Evans would more than likely catapult Sonnen (No. 9) to the top of his division.
Here’s a head-to-toe breakdown of the upcoming fight.
UFC welterweight contender Johny Hendricks is currently in the middle of a public relations battle about drug testing prior to his bout against Georges St-Pierre at UFC 167 when all he really wants to do is prepare and build the anticipation for the bi…
UFC welterweight contender Johny Hendricks is currently in the middle of a public relations battle about drug testing prior to his bout against Georges St-Pierre at UFC 167 when all he really wants to do is prepare and build the anticipation for the biggest fight of his career.
The questions were raised recently when St-Pierre signed on with the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency (VADA) to do additional testing ahead of his fight with Hendricks. The welterweight champion invited Hendricks to participate as well, even going as far as offering to pay for the challenger’s portion of the cost for the program.
Everything seemed ready to happen until Hendricks’ management team was made aware that VADA was footing the bill for GSP‘s testing, which contradicted the earlier statements that he was paying for the program himself. A storm of controversy followed after Hendricks and his team decided to turn to the Nevada State Athletic Commission (who will oversee the bout at UFC 167) for advice on the matter, and they were referred to WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) for testing instead.
WADA is the group that oversees the standards for drug testing for the Olympics and other major sports across the world.
Hendricks’ camp then felt burned by VADA after an anonymous report was released stating the former NCAA champion hadn’t signed up for testing ahead of his bout against St-Pierre in November. While there was never a direct statement from the company about the matter, the writing was on the wall that by not signing on for testing with VADA, Hendricks had to be hiding something, right?
“That’s what I was telling people. No one’s ever accused me of being on steroids,” Hendricks said on Monday. “If I was on steroids I’d probably be fighting 205 or heavyweight, and I probably couldn’t wipe my own ass. That’s probably what would happen if I got on steroids. But here’s the thing, I just want to be able to do it on my own.
“I don’t want to sit there and say I was the pound-for-pound, best champion there ever was, but I had some help. Not only that but I want to grow to 60, 70, 80, 90 years old, I want to see my kids and them grow up and my kids’ grandkids. That’s my goal in life, and if I put stuff in my body I may not make those ages.”
Hendricks is no stranger to stringent drug testing after being a high-level wrestler at Oklahoma State, where he was an NCAA champion for the program as well. He routinely underwent drug testing, never tested positive for anything and has never tested positive for any drug during any of his MMA fights either.
“In college what they do is sometimes they call you at 6:30 in the morning, you have to be there at 7 or 7:30 at the latest. You have to be in there and you have to do the drug test,” Hendricks explained. “If you no-show that’s called a failure and you get suspended for two or three events. If you no-show again, they automatically suspend you for the semester. So I know what it’s like to get random drug tested. I got it through my whole career at Oklahoma State.”
The point Hendricks is trying to make is that he’s never avoided additional drug testing, he just doesn’t want to work with a group like VADA.
VADA has come under fire previously for an inflammatory statement that was posted on their website about former UFC interim heavyweight champion Shane Carwin. The company took down the article and claimed it was posted by an intern, who was then fired for the action.
UFC heavyweight Matt Mitrionealso passed on dealing with VADA prior to his fight last year against Roy Nelson at the Ultimate Fighter 16 finale show after not having a positive interaction with the company. He even sent Hendricks a message via Twitter showing support for his decision to turn down VADA‘s testing.
Hendricks wants to make it very clear—he’s all for additional drug testing, and they can test him as often as they want, as many times as they want leading up to the fight. He just wants the people overseeing the procedures to be completely trustworthy, and according to Hendricks that’s not VADA.
“We talked to the Nevada State Commission and they had nothing but good things to say about WADA,” Hendricks said. “They’ve had some run-ins with VADA, and Matt Mitrione and some guys there’s things that happened that questioned you to go there. Here I am on the biggest fight in my career throwing my trust into GSP that he’s not in with him. Why is he pushing VADA so hard? There’s a lot of red flags to throw up for me. That’s why I said I’m not going to play into your game. If you want to test me, I will gladly do the Nevada State Commission whatever they give me or I want to do WADA.
“I know I’m going to pass it whether they come three times or they come 10 times because that’s my goal. I’m going to crush it.”
As for his opponent, Hendricks isn’t in the business of throwing out wild accusations saying that St-Pierre is cheating or ever has cheated in the past. When it’s all said and done, Hendricks could really care less if the UFC champion is on some kind of performance enhancing drug because it’s not going to save him when they’re in the cage together at UFC 167.
“It never entered my mind,” Hendricks said about St-Pierre potentially cheating. “Here’s the thing—I don’t care if he’s on anything, I really don’t. Because I’m needing him to show up November 16. If I start accusing him of something, and if he doesn’t want to fight me, he’s the champ he can say ‘oh I’m injured’ or this happened, or that happened. There’s a lot of things that you can sit there and make argument to.
“When he first made the announcement (about VADA) I was like I don’t know if I want to come back with (saying) anything because I know I’m not on anything but I don’t want to run him off. I need him to show up that night, and legal or not, I’m not saying he isn’t and I’m not saying he is, but legal or not, I need him to show up so I can get a shot at that (belt) he carries around.”
At this point, Hendricks is moving past all the drug testing talk because he just wants to get ready for the fight. If WADA shows up at his doorstep tomorrow to take a test, he’ll submit to it and has no doubts he’ll pass with flying colors.
The biggest disappointment about this entire situation is that Hendricks knows he’s part of something special coming up in November as part of the UFC’s 20th anniversary show, where he will be in the main event against St-Pierre. For the last week, instead of focusing on the fight and the promotion of the show, he’s dealt with nothing but questions about drug testing, and in that sense it’s taking away from how big he wants his fight with St-Pierre to be come November 16.
“He’s had four fights to try and clear his name. All of a sudden here it is the 20th anniversary of the UFC, and instead of us talking about how amazing this fight card is and how sweet it is to get this title shot I’ve been sitting here acting like I’ve been accused of taking drugs for the last 10 years,” Hendricks said. “I feel like I’ve been cheated on that. This card, I’m super pumped to be on and here we’re discussing drug testing and that kind of sucks.”
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Upcoming UFC title challenger Johny Hendricks is going on the offensive after a report surfaced that he has yet to fill out his paperwork to commence Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) Drug Testing leading up to his title fight with Georges St-Pi…
Upcoming UFC title challenger Johny Hendricks is going on the offensive after a report surfaced that he has yet to fill out his paperwork to commence Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) Drug Testing leading up to his title fight with Georges St-Pierre at UFC 167, via TVA Sports.
Hendricks’ manager, Ted Ehrhardt, told MMA Junkie that St-Pierre turned down the opportunity to have testing done by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) before voicing his opinion on the matter:
GSP’s had a black cloud over him for years (with) people thinking he’s on HGH (human growth hormone) or whatever they think he’s on, and I think he’s trying to clear his name, and we just happen to be the fight that he’s doing it … Probably if we had something to hide, it would bother us more. But we know we’re clean; we’re good. You test Johny, and the only thing he’s going to test positive for is high cholesterol because he eats fast food.
GSP is known for having one of the best physiques in MMA, while Hendricks is one of the largest welterweights in the sport, with nutritionist Mike Dolce stating that “Bigg Rigg” walks around as heavy as 215 pounds, via MMA Junkie.
Nevertheless, the two top 170-pounders have been drug tested multiple times by multiple commissions and have never failed a drug test.
Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Keith Kizer also weighed in on the drug testing situation surrounding the Nov. 16 title tilt, backing up Ehrhardt‘s claim that GSP‘s camp balked at WADA testing:
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. (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.” … OK, fine, use VADA. 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 added that both Hendricks and St-Pierre have been “great licensees in the past” and wasn’t interested in getting into a “pissing match” with either side regarding outside testing.
The executive director also noted that the NSAC will randomly test both athletes leading to their pay-per-view showdown, which takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.
St-Pierre, who has been on top of the UFC’s welterweight division since 2008, has won 11 in a row and is looking to make it nine straight title defenses against Hendricks.
Meanwhile, the challenger has been victorious in six straight bouts, including knockouts of then-top contenders Jon Fitch and Martin Kampmann.
JohnHeinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.
(Word has it that Dana White responded to Diaz by telling him to “quit being such a fag and fight already.” Photo via Diaz’s twitter.)
Having suffered back-to-back defeats to Ben Henderson and Josh “Bitch Ass Lady Sounds” Thomson — the latter of which was the first TKO loss in his MMA career — you wouldn’t think that Nate Diaz would be in the position to start picking and choosing who he fights next. That is, after all, a right reserved exclusively for self-matchmaker extraordinaire Chael P. Sonnen. That Diaz was also recently fined and “suspended” for making offensive statements on Twitter* would further the belief that he should perhaps keep his nose to the grindstone for the time being, but a Diaz wants what a Diaz wants and that is usually weed or a fight they don’t deserve.
As such, when Nate found out he was once again being paired against Gray Maynard, he posted the above to his Twitter account. While it’s not that shocking that he would call out Pettis, it is shocking that a Diaz would seemingly turn down a fight against a guy who narrowly defeated him in their last contest. Or anyone, for that matter.
But as of this write up, Maynard and Diaz are still set to do battle at the TUF 18 Finale on November 30th. The fight will serve as a rubber match of sorts between the two, as Maynard was submitted by Diaz in an exhibition bout during the TUF 5 semifinals but went on to score a lackluster split decision over Diaz at UFC Fight Night 20 in 2010. So…advantage Diaz, we guess?
(Word has it that Dana White responded to Diaz by telling him to “quit being such a fag and fight already.” Photo via Diaz’s twitter.)
Having suffered back-to-back defeats to Ben Henderson and Josh “Bitch Ass Lady Sounds” Thomson — the latter of which was the first TKO loss in his MMA career — you wouldn’t think that Nate Diaz would be in the position to start picking and choosing who he fights next. That is, after all, a right reserved exclusively for self-matchmaker extraordinaire Chael P. Sonnen. That Diaz was also recently fined and “suspended” for making offensive statements on Twitter* would further the belief that he should perhaps keep his nose to the grindstone for the time being, but as the saying goes, “A Diaz wants what a Diaz wants and that is usually weed or a fight they don’t deserve.”
As such, when Nate found out he was once again being paired against Gray Maynard, he posted the above to his Twitter account. While it’s not that shocking that he would call out Pettis, it is shocking that a Diaz would seemingly turn down a fight against a guy who narrowly defeated him in their last contest. Or anyone, for that matter.
But as of this write up, Maynard and Diaz are still set to do battle at the TUF 18 Finale on November 30th. The fight will serve as a rubber match of sorts between the two, as Maynard was submitted by Diaz in an exhibition bout during the TUF 5 semifinals but went on to score a lackluster split decision over Diaz at UFC Fight Night 20 in 2010. So…advantage Diaz, we guess?
Similar to his TUF 5 counterpart, Maynard is also coming off a tough TKO loss — to T.J. Grant at UFC 160. The first round finish was impressive enough to earn Grant a shot at Ben Henderson and now Anthony Pettis, so expect Maynard to come out with something to prove against Diaz this time around.
In other booking news, the struggling Donald Cerrone (I really don’t like how that sounds) has already set a date for his next comeback fight. Despite suffering a rather lopsided beatdown at the hands of Rafael Dos Anjos less than two weeks ago at Fight Night 27, Cerrone was not medically suspended by the Indiana Gaming Commission and has been given the go-ahead to face Evan Dunham at UFC 167 in November. Dunham is also 1-2 in his past 3, having sandwiched a split decision win over Gleison Tibau between decision losses to T.J. Grant and Rafael Dos Anjos. Getting awfully narrow, this lightweight division is.
And finally, Brian Ebersole — he of the hairrow and the cartwheel kick – has been booked against Rick Story, also at UFC 167. We haven’t heard a peep from Ebersole ever since he dropped a short-notice fight to James Head at UFC 149, snapping an 11 fight win streak in the process. The Indiana native has been battling injuries for over a year and will be given no easy return test in Story, who is also coming off a decision loss — this one to Mike Pyle at UFC 160.
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.
Frank Mir wasted no time getting back on the horse after being knocked out by Josh Barnett at UFC 164.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on Thursday night that Mir and fellow heavyweight Alistair Overeem have agreed to a fight at UFC 167, which add…
Frank Mir wasted no time getting back on the horse after being knocked out by Josh Barnett at UFC 164.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on Thursday night that Mir and fellow heavyweight Alistair Overeem have agreed to a fight at UFC 167, which adds yet another big-name bout to a card that’s already stacked beyond belief.
Seriously, just look at this main card:
Georges St-Pierre vs. Johny Hendricks ChaelSonnen vs. Rashad Evans Alistair Overeem vs. Frank Mir Rory MacDonald vs. Robbie Lawler Josh Koscheck vs. TyronWoodley
That’s a stellar card by any definition, and it’s a fitting 20th Anniversary show for the UFC. The addition of Overeem vs. Mir might insert even more intrigue: the prospect of a loser-leaves-town fight between two of the UFC’s biggest-name heavyweights.
Never heard of a loser leaves town fight? Here’s the simple explanation from Wikipedia: “Loser Leaves Town is a generic term for any match where the loser has to leave the current promotion or brand.”
Fairly simple, right? The loser of Mir vs. Overeem will likely receive his walking papers. It’s a bit more nuanced than that, as I’ll explain in a moment, but boiled down to brass tacks, it’s this.
This is a must-win fight for both men.
For Mir, I view retirement as the more likely circumstance. If he loses to Overeem, it’ll be his fourth consecutive loss in the Octagon. He’s 34 years old, and while he has a long way to go before he approaches Randy Couture-ish years, Mir has been around the game for a long time.
He’s put a lot of mileage on those tires. He made his UFC debut in 2001 and has found himself square in the middle of horrific battles over the years. The beatings he suffered at the hands of Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin come to mind.
I can’t see Mir suffering four losses in a row and attempting to stick around. He’s a very smart guy—one of the brightest in the UFC—and his brilliant mind for analysis and commentary gives him a career path to follow after he hangs up the gloves.
He won’t give the UFC the opportunity to cut him from the roster; he’ll retire and begin a second (and likely lucrative) career as a broadcaster and instructor. And the UFC likely wouldn’t want to cut him, anyway, as Mir is one of its longtime veterans.
Overeem? His back is against the wall. He’s not going to retire at age 33, which means he has to beat Mir in order to keep his job. Three consecutive losses in the UFC is one thing, but it’s another thing entirely to go on a losing streak when you’re getting paid the kind of money he is.
UFC 167 will be the end of an era. We’ll either see Mir take his long and fruitful career and ride into the sunset, or we’ll see the short Overeem Era come to a violent and ultimately disappointing end.
UFC welterweight contender Johny Hendricks is currently in the middle of a public relations battle about drug testing prior to his bout against Georges St-Pierre at 
