Eight Sides to a Story, By: Bren Oliver

07.22.2007

In this special submission, 411Mania MMA Zone contributor Bren Oliver addresses the current furor over the fallout from a series of positive drug tests in Mixed Martial Arts and why he believes the mainstream media is as guilty of using steroids to do a little "performance enhancing" of their own.

There are many stories in sports capturing the nation's attention at the moment; Michael Vick's pending legal fallout with his "dawgs", Barry Bonds' chase of the all-time homerun record, David Beckham's potential debut, and the British Open are only but a few of them. However, there seems to be a singular topic drowning out all the others, and as chance would have it is involved in not only Major League Baseball but surfaced in the PGA Tour earlier this week. It's a headline that's been plastered across athletic competitions as close to you as your local high school locker room and as far away as the Tour De France...unless of course you live in the wine-loving country spawning Pepe Le Pew. It all comes down to one word that fittingly enough starts with a crooked letter.

Steroids. Performance enhancing drugs. The clear. The cream. Doping. "A" and "B" tests. You name it, and, in every level and variety of sport, we've got it.

When I received word from the California State Athletic Commission early Thursday afternoon regarding the positive drug test results for Hermes Franca and Sean Sherk I was only surprised in the sense either man would be foolish enough to try and beat the CSAC testing. California has always been on the more stringent end of the regulation spectrum. The athletic commission's Executive Officer, Armando Garcia, runs a tight ship when it comes to a number of things and drug testing is certainly one of them. If June and July 2007 didn't send a message to the MMA community that California has wizzes on whiz then I'm not sure what would. Twenty eight drug violations proudly listed and indexed for we in the media to pick apart. Our computer-screen staring community's collective keyboards thank you!

Not only had the CSAC previously made clear their intent to promote clean competitions, but frankly it isn't as if the "Muscle Shark" doesn't have an incredibly well-sculpted physique and I mean that in the most heterosexual way possible. He's built like a comic-book hero...or villain depending on your point of view at this very moment in time.

On the other hand, Hermes Franca used anabolic agents to help him recover from an injury, perhaps a more commonly taken approach by athletes but a far less acknowledged use by the public. After all, don't most people expect steroid users to have enlarged heads, back acne, and muscles on top of muscles? The fact is it's a mainstream misconception that athletes juice purely to become stronger or faster. It helps their bodies heal, thus allowing them to workout more often and "pump up" if so desired, but also works to speed up the recovery rate for any injuries sustained while training.

My assumption is Sean Sherk used them in the same way, although not as a matter to patch up any specific injury as was the case with Franca, but moreso to allow him to push himself in the Gym at an incredible rate and then only deal with minimum soreness and exhaustion. In the event Sherk was merely showing off for Rachelle Leah on the UFC 73 "All Access" documenting the Minnesotan's workout I certainly might reconsider my stance and be more accepting. However, I'm about as positive as a CSAC urine sample that wasn't the case.

Frankly I hope Sherk knows to do the right thing and give up his championship. As many darts as fans and columnists throw at former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia, his character in undeniable in the sense he relinquished his championship knowing he had done wrong after testing positive for a substance sports fans should becoming familiar with - Stanozolol. Whether Sherk is shoveling Bison or Bison Shit is news we'll seemingly have to wait for until the appeal process plays out, but all signs indicate he should gracefully bow out and vow to return better than before. To tell the truth, if there's a silver-lining it's that the two fighters who tested positive happened to square off against each other. That way it can't be said either truly had an advantage over the other, except of course in regards to Sherk's rediculous wrestling ability.

What worries me more than the fate of the appeal-waiting, current UFC Lightweight Champion and his shiny bauble, or the length of Hermes Franca's suspension, is the black eye the news could give a business usually well-prepared to deal with a shiner. White picked a good time for a vacation, because he's going to have quite a bit of proverbial cut-work once he gets back to his Las Vegas office.

It was only a matter of time before MMA news outlets, big and small, picked up on the suspensions and went to work spinning the subject. It's what we do. "MMA Needs to Address Steroid Problem" writes Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports. "Steroids, Street Drugs a Problem Too" writes a consortium of columnists on CBS Sportsline. Even Sherdog, a Mixed Martial Arts outlet associated ESPN, issued an open letter from Executive Editor Josh Gross offering a scathing critique of UFC policy.

Funny enough, there wasn't half the uproar when Royce Gracie, the man whose family created UFC and who is an icon in the sport, tested positive for the same steroid as Sherk, Nandrolone, or when two other fighters on the same card also tested positive for banned substances. The media shook off another round of suspensions as Phil Baroni chuckled through a groin tear and Carter Williams showed cocaine in his system. Maybe his corner mistook it for smelling salt after Paul Buentello knocked him cold? Regardless, we get to UFC 73, allowing Sherk and Franca to enter the fray and now the sky is all of the sudden falling? It's in this scramble for assertions there is a drug problem in MMA, that the UFC is somehow responsible for the mistakes of smaller organizations, where I start to take issue and why I felt the need to write something. Nevermind that some of the same people calling for Dana White's head for steroid use are making money off merchandise from organizations with known steroid users and a publically acknowledged lack of drug testing.

The UFC is no more responsible for what occurs in smaller organizations than the NFL is responsible for what happens in the AFL II or some Firemen vs. Policemen recreational league on the East Coast. They are responsible for their organization. And it is not their responsibility to drug test their athletes because that's what athletic commissions are for. This is not World Wrestling Entertainment. This is a sport regulated by government officials far more often than not.

And guess what? When a player in the NFL, which is considered to have a very solid drug policy in most circles, tests positive for steroids he is suspended four games (i.e. a month). In the NBA a positive hit results in a ten game suspension (i.e. a few weeks). In MMA if you test positive for steroids you get suspended for pretty much a year no matter what. And, as Hermes Franca's plea to fans this week embellished upon in almost a heartbreaking fashion, a lot of these guys live fight-to-fight. There is no $30 million signing bonus for even the best of the best when it comes to MMA. The money is still catching up with the sport's ever-ascending popularity. As far as the alleged problem with drugs in Mixed Martial Arts it's another story altogether.

In the twenty-eight violations relating to positive drug tests in California from 3/31 to 7/6, do you know what the most commonly recorded drug was? Marijuana. It tripled the total amount of other street drugs found in fighters' systems. Does that mean there is a problem in the MMA community when it comes to puff-puff passing guard? Maybe. But I'm also an adult. And in the big-boy world I think there should perhaps be some understanding that individuals who deal in the profession of pain might partake in such a hobby. I'm not condoning the behavior. I don't have to support their choice to accept it.

There were nine steroid violations in comparison to the thirteen for the sticky-icky, and this is also including seven positive drug tests from kickboxing and boxing cards. Seventeen MMA events, essentially meaning upwards of 300 total fighters if you figure each show has between eight or nine bouts, accounted for twenty total positive tests. And of the fighters, a group of three hundred King Leonidas would no doubt be proud of, how many were under the umbrella of the UFC? Two.

If the public were to take that many athletes from any sport, especially one of the premeire leagues like the NFL or MLB, and test them all under the CSAC's guidelines how many do you think might register a positive result? I'd wager quite a few. It was not until recently that amphetamine-laced coffee was taken out of Major League Clubhouses, yet here we stand focused on the *spooky fingers* drug problem in Mixed Martial Arts? Yes, I understand the Ultimate Fighting Championship being attached to the story makes it even that much sexier for columnists across the world and world wide web. But the fact is, like is often the case, the media is sensationalizing this series of events because the s-word popped up.

Steroids are a hot ticket item when it comes to garnering attention. It's as clear as any Balco-produced chemical. Go to your local grocery store and look at the rack of magazines in the checkout aisle. You're likely to see a fellow named Chris Benoit over and over, a murderer who before would have only made the cover of a WWE publication. That particular motivation on the mainstream media's behalf is something I have a problem with.