UFC must clean own house first

UFC must clean own house first 8/24/07 Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White should be commended for his efforts toward trying to rid steroid use in mixed martial arts competition. But White should wait until all the glass is removed from his own house before starting to throw stones. Asked by FOXSports.com about his promotion's steroid issues during a news conference to promote Saturday night's "UFC 74: Respect" pay-per-view show, an animated White launched into a tirade about the long-standing problems experienced by other professional sports leagues. White exaggerated muscles when describing a Bash Brothers poster from the late 1980s featuring then-Oakland A's players Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire — "If anybody in this room doesn't know that (they) were taking steroids ... are you serious?" — before turning his verbal assault toward the NFL. "What would happen every Sunday every time an NFL player put his cleats on and headed out to the field they were tested by the government for steroids?" White queried Thursday from a podium inside the Mandalay Bay Events Center. "You want me to tell you? There would be no football, OK? Football would be over. "Every player would be on suspension. Maybe the quarterback and the kicker would be out there on Sunday." White was alluding to the fact that a number of state athletic commissions, including the one in Las Vegas supervising Saturday's card, administer steroid tests to MMA performers on the night of their fights. A failed test in California results in a mandatory one-year suspension that essentially prevents a fighter from competing anywhere else until completing the sentence. Other states like Nevada (nine months) and New Jersey (three) have different timeframes for punishment for failed tests under their jurisdiction. The NFL, which declined comment about White's diatribe, doesn't test its players on game days. Plus, the punishment for a first failed test is a more modest four-game suspension. However, the NFL does randomly test 10 players each week from all of its 32 teams during the regular season and continues with spot checks in the off-season to produce a total collection of 12,000 urine samples a year. UFC fighters aren't tested at any other point before fight night, which has led to suspicion that some competitors are timing steroid use to heal injuries or generate muscle gain so their systems are clean once they step into the Octagon. Since the California State Athletic Commission installed drug-testing in March 2006, nine of the 82 positive results through early August were for steroid violations. Two of those competitors — Sean Sherk and Hermes Franca — fought in a lightweight title match on last month's UFC 73 pay-per-view show in Sacramento. White said Thursday that Sherk would be stripped of his crown if his appeal of the suspension is denied. "I've said this a million times: Sean Sherk is a good guy," said White, who booked Sherk on the first card he and UFC owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta held in 2001 after buying the promotion. "I've known him for a long time. I don't think he's a liar. "You could look at him and the guy looks like a bodybuilder. But this is a kid who won't walk through the casino because he doesn't want to inhale smoke. He tells me he didn't take steroids. I believe him. That (appeal decision) is not up to me. That's up to the California State Athletic Commission." White and UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture also blamed the media for, as the former put it, "going crazy" with reports connecting MMA fighting and steroids. "Any time there are large purses and celebrity and all those things involved (with fighting), guys are willing to risk it to cut corners," said Couture, who will defend his title against Gabriel Gonzaga in the UFC 74 main event. "It's not just our sport. It's society-wide and sports-wide from Olympics to every other professional sport. "I think we're an easy target because people don't understand us as fighters and guys who get in a cage and brawl and all that stuff anyway. Now, they want to tag us with steroids and abuse there, too. I don't think that's really the case." Still, White and Couture have to remember that the UFC invited the same kind of scrutiny given organizations like the NFL when lobbying for mainstream news coverage and acceptance as a legitimate sporting endeavor rather than "human cockfighting" as it was labeled by Arizona Senator John McCain in the 1990s. To his credit, White has taken steroid eradication into his own hands by implementing a testing plan for cards held in states and international sites that don't have their own programs. White also said he continues to stress to UFC performers to avoid taking shortcuts and seems sincerely frustrated that some still do. "Yes, I tell these guys, 'You can't use steroids,' " White said. "They know. These are all bright guys. Most of these guys went to college. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know you can't take steroids. Guys still do it. "It's just, you know ... What do you want me to do? Start beating them with a stick? Drag them out to the middle of town and have all the villagers stone them to death? I mean, they lose the ability to make a living for a year (for testing positive). That's pretty harsh." So is ripping others before UFC's own steroid troubles are corrected.

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UFC must clean own house first