Steroids in MMA? UFC? - You Can Bet On It
July 20, 2007
In the recent months of the meteoric rise of mixed martial arts (MMA) in the mainstream media, the scrutiny of its violence and brutality are slowly being sidelined due to the emergence of illegal substances showing up in the urine of its athletes.
In all honesty, MMA has never really been tested for banned substances, it has only been sanctioned by a legitimate athletics commission since 2000. Before then, participants didn’t ever have to worry about testing positive because there simply weren’t any tests.
Even at recent UFC and MMA events in the U.K. and Texas, athletes were not required to submit a sample - for some regulatory bodies it just isn’t in the rules.
And now, the UFC Lightweight Champion of the world is a doping cheater. And so was his most recent opponent from the same fight! According to UFC Lightweight contender Din Thomas, lots of guys knowingly use performance enhancers to compete better.
In his interview today with BetUs MMA Fight Talk Radio, Thomas expressed his disdain for Franca and Sherk using steroids, even going as far as calling them ”retarded” to think that they could get away with it. But more shockingly, he shed some light into the underworld of some MMA gyms and locker rooms, professing that the issue is popular enough amongst fighters that he couldn’t imagine a time when steroids WEREN’T in MMA.
With the recent news headlines about Chris Benoit; the ongoing saga with Barry Bonds and baseball; even Floyd Landis and the high-profile doping convictions and accusations from the last two decades of the Tour De France, the mainstream sports media is getting sick of cheaters.
And I'm willing to bet the UFC is going to lead the charge in stamping out Steroids in mixed martial arts
MMA is barely recognized as anything more than human cockfighting; it has been biting and clawing its way into sports legitimacy one tiny step at a time. The relatively small amount of respect the UFC has garnered, now creeping over the sport like a billion-dollar glove being worn by millions of potential fans, was attained ONE way only; by following the rules.
If they hope to continue to gain acceptance from the media, the public and the international sporting powers that be and put this nonsense behind them, this needs to stop. Now.
I would go so far as to say Dana White needs to come out with the strongest possible indictment. He needs to make an announcement that ANY fighter under his UFC / PRIDE umbrella that is busted for using steroids in the future, will be banned from fighting for him; not for the one-year time span that is the ban brought down by the Nevada State Athletics Commission, but for five years. No excuses, no second chances, no exceptions.
To undo the public relations damage that has already been done, it is no longer a matter of nipping this in the bud, its a matter of confroming to every single rule and regulation possible and taking a hard line when it comes to anything illegal in its sport.
