Friend of our site


MMA Headlines


UFC HP


Bleacher Report


MMA Fighting


MMA Torch


MMA Weekly


Sherdog (News)


Sherdog (Articles)


Liver Kick


MMA Junkie


MMA Mania


MMA Ratings


Rating Fights


Yahoo MMA Blog


MMA Betting


Search this site



Latest Articles


News Corner


MMA Rising


Audio Corner


Oddscast


Sherdog Radio


Video Corner


Fight Hub


Special thanks to...

Link Rolodex

Site Index


To access our list of posting topics and archives, click here.

Friend of our site


Buy and sell MMA photos at MMA Prints

Site feedback


Fox Sports: "Zach Arnold's Fight Opinion site is one of the best spots on the Web for thought-provoking MMA pieces."

« | Home | »

Sunday Summer open post

By Zach Arnold | July 22, 2007

Print Friendly and PDF

Anything MMA-related on your mind goes here today.

Eddie Goldman has an important radio show discussing the various drug scandals in Mixed Martial Arts. He also critiques my CBS Sportsline article about MMA’s drug culture.

My name was on the byline of the Sportsline article, 411 Mania. And 411 Mania is wondering why there is a fuss about failed drug tests coming out of UFC 73 when there wasn’t “half the uproar” when Royce Gracie failed. I couldn’t disagree more with that assessment. I would know – I started writing the MMA drug culture article series beginning around the time of the K-1 LA Coliseum event.

More thoughts in full-page view.

It’s unfortunate that most people who have read the Sportsline article have totally missed the ‘red meat’ of it, which is that doping in MMA is a worldwide problem. I did not focus individual blame on UFC whatsoever for MMA’s drug culture, far from it. I’m extremely disappointed with this paragraph from 411 Mania, however:

As fans we need to be supporting MMA and the UFC, not tearing it down because a tiny fraction of fighters were caught using illegal drugs. As writers we need to maintain perspective instead of jumping in headfirst because steroids are involved. We all have helped create the foundation upon which UFC is still building.

1. UFC made UFC, MMA writers did not. The mainstream, casual fan decided to support by paying money in big figures.

2. I’ve heard the same “don’t tear down the industry” logic spewed in another sport that I’ve spent my entire life covering, which is professional wrestling. I’ve seen what the drug culture has done to that industry. I’ve had friends who have died before the age of 40 in the business. I see the parallels between wrestling and MMA as far as the drug culture and the train is not stopping any time soon.

As far as what hot-button issues in MMA that I am personally going to write about, I will write about whatever is newsworthy and the public deems necessary to cover. I’ve covered a corporate tax evasion scandal. In return, I got threats. I’ve covered the implosion of Japan’s largest fight company due to a yakuza scandal. I had sources in Japan who got threats over that. As I did with prior scandals in MMA, I will cover the steroids problem in the industry because I feel the need to do so. I have spent years covering stories and not making a single dollar from it and I’m not going to stop any time soon. So, to be told that I shouldn’t discuss the MMA drug culture because it might tear down the business is the kind of garbage I’ve seen spewed from the most sociopathic of WWE marks during the Chris Benoit scandal. Unlike WWE (which declared itself sports entertainment to get out of regulation in the state of New Jersey), UFC is not running away from drug testing administered by athletic commissions.

The Scotsman has an editorial piece decrying an upcoming MMA event in Glasgow.

Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 40 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

40 Responses to “Sunday Summer open post”

  1. Mike Schroeder says:

    One of the principle issues in steroids, though, is how quickly people are to either a. get on the defensive about their favorite fighter, or b., assume anyone who tested positive is guilty. We forget that there is an appeal process set up for a reason.

  2. Stu says:

    Is anyone else able to listen to Eddie Goldman’s show? I’m just getting garbled audio on everything except the commercial spots.

  3. MMA Fan says:

    i never understood the fuss about the roids? the real danger is pain killers. HGH is another problem. I have seen first hand the emotional roller coaster these 2 drugs can put a fighter on

    There needs to be some way to test fighters regularly in addition to after the post fight drug tests. But the focus should be on the pain pills. Thats what killed my friend in this business. It was such a slippery slope. Starts with a dr prescription for 5 mg of Perk and next thing you know you have 5 doctors are calling you in scripts for oxycontin. That is more common in this business then anyone will fess up to.

  4. MoreThanUFC says:

    I have read more about steroids in the last three days than I ever have wanted to. Just to get this out there, I believe Sherk is innocent. I dont have enough faith in the system when a fighter tests that close to a pass to say he is guilty. I laid into Sherk a bit, and that was my fault. He tested at a 12, barely over the limit, and since the science isnt there yet, I cant say a guy who lives a life like he does couldnt register a false positive.

  5. Jordan Breen says:

    “Anything MMA-related on your mind goes here today.”

    Really? Anything?

    Cause I was just thinking about how hard Alex Cook-The Babanba rocked. And man, did it rock.

  6. Jordan Breen says:

    Heck yes. Alex Cook forever.

  7. Those punches were imbued with much hate.

  8. Bren Oliver says:

    I respectfully disagree with the notion fans/writers didn’t help make the UFC. If folks didn’t go to shows there wouldn’t be a UFC. If writers didn’t promote the show the UFC wouldn’t be enjoying anywhere near the success they’re having now.

    The culture of drugs in professional wrestling is not comparable to MMA. Wrestlers work 300 days a week with minimal rest/recovery time. MMA fighters perform 3-4 times a year and have private lives outside of the sport that they’re able to regularly partake in. When MMA fighters start kicking the bucket due to enlarged hearts and drug overdoses then I’ll find myself on your side. My point was that we need to be responsible journalists instead of creating an uproar over a handful of positive results.

    Also please keep in mind that article is purely opinion-based.

  9. D. Capitated says:

    The culture of drugs in professional wrestling is not comparable to MMA. Wrestlers work 300 days a week with minimal rest/recovery time. MMA fighters perform 3-4 times a year and have private lives outside of the sport that they’re able to regularly partake in. When MMA fighters start kicking the bucket due to enlarged hearts and drug overdoses then I’ll find myself on your side. My point was that we need to be responsible journalists instead of creating an uproar over a handful of positive results.

    What crazy nonsense! Next you’ll say traditional stick and ball sports have drug problems that are totally unlike pro wrestling. Perhaps even Olympic Sports! Its a miracle Ben Johnson hasn’t died in his sleep. How many somas do you guys think he was on?

  10. Bren Oliver says:

    How many MMA fighters are under corporate pressure to maintain a certain jacked-up look? Zero. Many many WWE wrestlers? All of them. Drug use backstage in professional wrestling has long been an understood part of the business. There are guys who pop pills, drink some booze, or smoke a joint in prepartion for performance. You think anything remotely close to that occurs in a UFC locker room?

    I haven’t seen too many professional baseball players or Olympic Athletes keel over in their mid-forties with the exception of hardcore known drug abusers like Ken Caminiti. Pro wrestling’s drug issues are different than most sports because use was supported by the highest ups. Even McMahon was juicing for awhile.

  11. A quote that jumped out at me from the last line of the 411 column:

    “Let’s work on making the sport better, not enabling the critics who are salivating at the chance to shift public opinion back towards the notion of human cockfighting.”

    Bren (if you’re reading) … this is failed logic, based on the specific articles you mentioned as the basis for your dissenting opinion (Kevin Iole, the SportsLine “consortium,” and Sherdog).

    Why would those three specific sources of MMA/steroid-related content (opinion, investigative, or otherwise) be “salivating at the chance to shift public opinion back towards the notion of human cockfighting”?

    Just curious what makes you think Sherdog, Iole, or people like Zach Arnold or myself would be particularly eager to make MMA look bad, since it’s the sport we all choose to cover (and presumably enjoy).

    If you really believe that last line you wrote, then let me assure you that there is nothing that I (speaking only for myself) would hate more than for public opinion to shift back to “human cockfighting.”

    If the goal was to lump Zach Arnold, Kevin Iole, or Sherdog in with the mainstream media who actually believe in the human cockfighting b.s., then I would like to know why you believe those writers to be interested in breaking ranks with the serious MMA reporters and joining the brain-dead masses of beat writers who truly believe MMA is “human cockfighting” and want to see it fail.

  12. 45 Huddle says:

    “Is anyone else able to listen to Eddie Goldman’s show? I’m just getting garbled audio on everything except the commercial spots.”

    Actually, that is the way it should sound. These days, Eddie spews out nothing but gabled audio. That is what happens when a “journalist” basically goes on the payroll of the IFL.

    I agree that there are almost no link between Pro Wrestling and MMA drug use. Baseball didn’t have drug testing for years, and their life styles are much closer to that of a Pro Wrestler. And we don’t see them dying off at an early age with record numbers. Pro Wrestling is it’s own beast. Those guys are constantly on pain killers. They feel required to take steroids to bulk up so McMahon will even consider them for a title. And their bodies go through extreme injuries that requires a real off season to recoup, but they have none.

    The “steroid issue” with the UFC really is a non-issue. The UFC runs the vast majority of their cards in testing states, and they have never run from regulation. That alone means the mass media could care less. There is no scandal. There is no ability to make the story a talking point for 3 months to a year. And that is what it takes in today’s media for an issue to really be brought to light.

    The MMA websites can be up and arms about the issue, but the show will continue to go on, and fans will continue to be entertained, with little care for these positive tests.

  13. Caleb Newby says:

    To be fair, MMA hasn’t had the chance Pro Wrestling has had to see the long term effects in their performers. That being said, it’s going to be difficult to duplicate the drug culture in Pro Wrestling regardless.

    As for 411mania, yikes, lots of people upset at the article, and from those I respect. I am looking forward to what out other guys write about the issue, if only for the fact that our staff’s opinions have been as varied as different as your typical MMA community.

  14. Matt McEwen says:

    I think a lot of the MMA reporting that goes on – on this site and elsewhere – falls into the same trap that a lot of the pro wrestling reporting you see around the net also does.

    When something negative happens – such as Sherk and Franca both testing positive – there seems to be a tendancy to pull a Chicken Little – ie. run around screaming “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!”

    Is it a good thing for the sport to have a reigning champion test postive? No, it definitely is not, but neither is it a good thing for those who follow the sport closely and do good reporting – which Zach, Kevin Iole and others – to proclaim that there is a steroid epidemic in MMA and that if it isn’t cleaned up soon then all is doomed.

    In a lot of cases, I think it easier to write a cathing attack on a person, sport or organization than it is to intelligently discuss the issue in an even handed manner. It also gets a lot more hits for a site as well.

    As for some people wanting to blame the UFC for any and all problems related to MMA, I would say that is another part of human nature. When you are a success and the leader in any given field, those who feel they are in the know will always find ways to blame you for anything they can. I’m not saying they are faultless, but to blame them for every little thing wrong in the MMA world is certainly taking the easy way out.

    As for steroids, they are unfortunately a fact of life in ALL professional sports. I’m not saying that makes it ok for fighters to cheat, but rather I’m saying that the problem in MMA – in as much as it exists – is part of a larger problem of sports as a whole.

    And I would have to agree with Bren in saying that comparing the drug culture in MMA to the drug culture in pro wrestling is quite pointless. I honestly don’t see what the two have in common, other than the fact that a lot of people seem to be fans of both.

  15. Rollo the Cat says:

    “i never understood the fuss about the roids? the real danger is pain killers.”

    Yes, and Cortisone injections are the biggest threat to an athletes long term health. Unfortunately, our medical establishment sees no problem with them. If you want create a crippled ex-athlete, cortisone will do it.

  16. Bren Oliver says:

    I don’t think columnists such as those on this site and people like Kevin Iole have any desire to see public opinion shift towards the negative end of the spectrum. But I also am realistic enough to understand the ice on which MMA skates is thin, albeit thickening. To use a handful of examples equating to a very small percentage of fighters as a means of creating a “drug problem in MMA” headline is irresponsible in my opinion. And when it’s put on a mainstream platform, like Yahoo or ESPN, Joe Blow out there sees the story and believes the hype. That’s my point about it swaying opinion back to “human cockfighting”. Give a cow like Nancy Grace the opportunity to run a week of stories on “steroids in MMA” and tell me how much good that does for the sport.

    As far as Sherdog I’ll just it was beneath Josh Gross to address the subject matter in the way he did. He took a personal issue and tried to turn it into sensationlized news. It really damaged their credibility in my opinion.

  17. Grape Knee High says:

    Given that no one seems to want to address a simple question I asked the other day, I have to ask it again:

    Given that that mainstream sports — particularly cycling and Olympic sports but also sports like football, baseball, hockey — have extremely extensive drug abuse and doping testing and there are *still* regular scandals every year, what exactly does everyone here so insistent on more comprehensive drug testing hope to achieve, exactly?

    The bigger MMA gets, and the more money these fighters earn, the more sophisticated their abuse will be. Guaranteed, at some point in the future, there will be a blood doping scandal in MMA (assuming they test for it; I don’t recall if they do currently).

    While I think more illegal abuse testing is a positive thing, I don’t know that most people here up in arms about this topic have given this much critical thought. So, again, what exactly do people expect with more comprehensive testing? Only the extremely naive among you will be able to seriously say that “less abuse” will be a true, realistic outcome.

  18. Matt McEwen says:

    There can never be too much testing. The more people caught, the better.

    The problem doesn’t lay in how much/little testing there is, it lays with how little consequences there are.

    Everyone with a smidgen of intelligence knows that Barry Bonds used steroids, yet most are more than happen to ignore that fact when it comes to the home run record, which is forever tarnished now.

    Everyone with a smidgen of intelligence knows that Floyd Landis doped in winning the Tour De France last year, but it’s taken a full year of hearings and proceedings and he still hasn’t been stripped of the title.

    Everyone with a smidgen of intelligence knows the chances of Lance Armstrong having been clean during his streak of wins is next to nil, but we ignore that because he is an inspirational story.

    Steroids and cheating don’t have the stigma attached to them that they once did. Ben Johnson went from national hero to national pariah in about two seconds in 1988, but now the “if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying” ethos seems to be winning out.

  19. Grape Knee High says:

    “The problem doesn’t lay in how much/little testing there is, it lays with how little consequences there are.”

    I absolutely, positively agree.

    But no one is really willing to legislate real consequences for abuse. Like, say, 5 years of suspension without question or a true economic fine (ie, more than they earned for the fight). You literally have to be willing to kill an athlete’s career in order scare the wits of them from trying in the first place if you really want drug testing and abuse prevention to be successful.

    Is anyone here really comfortable with that?

  20. D. Capitated says:

    Even if there is a 5 years suspension, the UFC is not the international governing body for the sport. They can’t necessarily stop a fighter from fighting elsewhere. People who keep comparing the UFC to an IOC, FIFA, or IAAF are doing so in stupid fashion and without the apparent comprehension of how other sports conduct business.

  21. Grape Knee High says:

    D.Capitated, I agree. Plus, in addition, having the UFC take on a larger role in testing would be akin to the testing PRIDE did. Who would keep the UFC honest?

    If the UFC were responsible for more testing and handing down suspensions, I guarantee a positive Sherk test would have been suppressed without question.

  22. nicklovesmma says:

    Zack Arnold I love your blog, I just wish you had one that covered pro wrestling!

  23. MoreThanUFC says:

    Matt,
    I have a bit more than a smidgen of intelligence, and I also happen to believe that ppl are innocent until proven guilty. Do I think Barry used, yes, Landis not sure, Lance… No athlete that I am aware of has been tested more that he was for about four years. He was submitting urine and blood tests almost monthly, in some cases pissing right in front of total strangers. If he was doping, he’s the end all be all of test-beaters. Mike Tyson, Michael Jordan, Pele, and Jim Brown were all athletes that were about as far ahead of their competition as Lance was, did they all dope too?

  24. K. Fabe says:

    I never knew ostriches could write! Bren sure has his head in the sand about steroids.

  25. Matt McEwen says:

    If Jordan, Pele and Brown all competed in a sport where roughly 90 of the top 100 competitors all doped, and they were still that much better than everyone else, than yes, I would say they probably doped.

    I’m sure he was tested a million times, but if they aren’t testing for the right things – and with the money Armstrong had flowing in, he was mostly likely at the cutting edge of doping – then they aren’t going to find anything. Do some research into cycling and see just how many guys were/are cheating, then tell me someone NOT doping could be that dominant.

    We’re getting a bit off track here, but the point still stands.

  26. Tomer Chen says:

    Mike Tyson

    Tyson tested positive for marijuana after the Andrew Golota fight and had it overturned to a ‘No Contest’. Not doping, but he did test positive for drugs before.

  27. Kev says:

    If the UFC were responsible for more testing and handing down suspensions, I guarantee a positive Sherk test would have been suppressed without question.

    The choir says Amen.

  28. D. Capitated says:

    In regards to Lance Armstrong, there was a stupendous ESPN The Magazine article about him and how its believed he cheated the system. After reading it and the Floyd Landis stories, Greg Lamond comes out of it looking like God Incarnate for having won 3 all naturally.

  29. MoreThanUFC says:

    Matt, you’re making dangerous assumptions, nothing more. I’m somewhat of a guy who likes to see facts, not assumptions.

  30. Matt McEwen says:

    While I don’t know how dangerous those assumptions maybe, I’ll admit there is no concrete proof. But if you say the only way that it is safe to assume that someone doped is a positive test, then I think you miss out on the biggest problem facing any sport/organization hoping to clean things up.

    Like a few people have mentioned, testing is ALWAYS playing catch up to the cheaters. Pretty much the only people getting caught in the act are either A)desperate or B)using outdated methods.

    Personally, I’d love it if Armstrong really did do it clean, but I just don’t see how someone is that dominant in a sport dominated by dopers for the better part of the past 20 years. Just like how 5 guys have hit more than 61 home runs in the past 5 or 6 years when no one could do it in the 35 or so before that.

    Tying this back to MMA, I think the key is that the testing is done by state regulators who don’t have a vested interest in the fighter. I’m not going to say that test results would be buried by a promotion – and in regards to the UFC, I think they have shown a willingness and openess in punishing those found using – but there would always be the temptation.

    I think the thing saving MMA is that there is not a demonstrated performance advantage to using steroids, as most of the people found to be using have been recovering from an injury more often than not.

  31. Zach Arnold says:

    The culture of drugs in professional wrestling is not comparable to MMA. Wrestlers work 300 days a week with minimal rest/recovery time. MMA fighters perform 3-4 times a year and have private lives outside of the sport that they’re able to regularly partake in. When MMA fighters start kicking the bucket due to enlarged hearts and drug overdoses then I’ll find myself on your side. My point was that we need to be responsible journalists instead of creating an uproar over a handful of positive results.

    There were 23 drug suspensions in California in 9 months. Add 20 more in the last 3 months. That’s 43 (not withstanding how many suspensions happened between January 1, 2007 and March 30th, 2007).

    That’s not a handful. Just like the amount of deaths of pro-wrestlers due to prescription and hardcore bodybuilding drugs is not a handful, either.

    Wrestlers in WWE work about 200 days a year. Prescription drugs are a major problem in wrestling, just like they are in MMA. There’s certainly an element of bodybuilding in both sports. And a lot of drug abuse. Kevin Randleman is very lucky that he is alive at this moment.

    45 Huddles:

    The MMA websites can be up and arms about the issue, but the show will continue to go on, and fans will continue to be entertained, with little care for these positive tests.

    “The show must go on.” Hmmm… where have I heard this before. 🙂

    Matt McEwen:

    Is it a good thing for the sport to have a reigning champion test postive? No, it definitely is not, but neither is it a good thing for those who follow the sport closely and do good reporting – which Zach, Kevin Iole and others – to proclaim that there is a steroid epidemic in MMA and that if it isn’t cleaned up soon then all is doomed.

    I hate to break it to you, but there is a drug epidemic in MMA just like there is in wrestling. Mike Sawyer, who lives in Las Vegas, can tell you first-hand just how bad the drug problem is. Pain pills, in his words, are passed out like candy. Mike even wrote a column detailing household items used to beat the current drug tests.

    Go read his column and tell me there isn’t a major issue at hand.

    And I would have to agree with Bren in saying that comparing the drug culture in MMA to the drug culture in pro wrestling is quite pointless. I honestly don’t see what the two have in common, other than the fact that a lot of people seem to be fans of both.

    I’m begging you to read the Sportsline article again. Read the quotes about the drug problems in Japan. So much of the roots of modern MMA comes from pro-wrestling.

  32. D. Capitated says:

    [quote]There were 23 drug suspensions in California in 9 months. Add 20 more in the last 3 months. That’s 43 (not withstanding how many suspensions happened between January 1, 2007 and March 30th, 2007).

    That’s not a handful. Just like the amount of deaths of pro-wrestlers due to prescription and hardcore bodybuilding drugs is not a handful, either. [/quote]

    This is horrible reporting. There were 23 drug suspensions in California, but what were they for? Out of how many competitors? Not only that , your comparison of marijuana or cocaine positives to use of anabolic steroids by pro wrestlers is ridiculous. You know it and I know it.

    Wrestlers in WWE work about 200 days a year. Prescription drugs are a major problem in wrestling, just like they are in MMA. There’s certainly an element of bodybuilding in both sports. And a lot of drug abuse. Kevin Randleman is very lucky that he is alive at this moment.

    Kevin Randleman was allowed to do whatever he wanted early on in the UFC (when there was no testing) and in Japan (where there was no testing), but upon his return to the US for PRIDE in Vegas, he turns up positive and gets a medical suspension. What does that say about the drug problem in the UFC, particularly given that they run mostly in major commission states?

    I hate to break it to you, but there is a drug epidemic in MMA just like there is in wrestling. Mike Sawyer, who lives in Las Vegas, can tell you first-hand just how bad the drug problem is. Pain pills, in his words, are passed out like candy. Mike even wrote a column detailing household items used to beat the current drug tests.

    I have friends in Las Vegas too, and I wouldn’t ask them what the drug problem in MMA is like because they don’t know. Who is Mike Sawyer? A dude who works at a strip club and writes about MMA for a pro wrestling website? Excuse me if I’m not convinced of his opinion. Will you quote MMA Torch next?

    I’m begging you to read the Sportsline article again. Read the quotes about the drug problems in Japan. So much of the roots of modern MMA comes from pro-wrestling.

    Did Hogan show Lance Armstrong how to cycle EPO? Who mixed Aaron Pryor’s bottle…was it really Panama Lewis, or was it VINCENT K. MCMAHON?

  33. Grape Knee High says:

    So Zach, I’m curious since you seem to be taking quite a populist approach and pointing fingers without any critical analysis of what can be done and why doing anything at all is better than leaving it as it is.

    I’ve read your articles and your opinions here and while you’ve spent a lot of time saying that there is a drug culture in MMA — and I fully agree, btw; the drug culture and abuse will only get worse as the paydays go higher — and that something needs to be done.

    So do you expect to be done? How will it prevent (or stem) drug abuse?

    Any status quo “solution” — one that only moves abusers from using run of the mill steroids to more sophisticated technology without decreasing the overall number of abusers — is not a real solution. We’re trying to prevent fighters from abusing in the first place, right? Not just catch more offenders…

  34. Zach Arnold says:

    So Zach, I’m curious since you seem to be taking quite a populist approach and pointing fingers without any critical analysis of what can be done and why doing anything at all is better than leaving it as it is.

    I didn’t know that a ‘populist’ approach = not wanting to see guys dope and drop dead. I thought it was more or less a common sense approach.

    I wrote a long article on MMA’s drug culture for CBS Sportsline. What you saw on Friday was part one of the report. Part two revolves around what kinds of “Acts of God” could shock the industry into changing and also what should be done for solutions. It’s currently with the editors to look over and analyze.

    But, fair enough, you asked me for my thoughts. I look a lot at what has happened in wrestling and see how it applies to MMA. When you look at “Acts of God” you’re talking about guys dropping dead, scandals coming from depositions during a lawsuit, police arrest drug suppliers, or someone in the business writing a scandal book. Realistically, there isn’t an “Act of God” that is going to completely change things around.

    So, you have to move to solutions that can be applied to the situation. A lot it revolves around education and also gym owners making a conscious decision to stop the flow of drugs going into training centers. Bas Boon, who is a co-manager for Golden Glory, has a very good record of keeping drugs away from fighters. It really comes down to whether or not fighters are willing to make the choice to stay away from the drugs. I also think education (such as symposiums that Marc Ratner is proposing) on issues such as weight-cutting can help. It’s a daunting task and you’ll never eliminate the drug culture in MMA, but you sure as hell can slow it down. At this point, slowing it down would be a nice and positive babystep to take.

  35. Zack says:

    I’m definitely looking forward to part 2.

  36. Croatian Strength says:

    Randleman never tested positive, just gave a false sample.
    He’s never admitted to taking steroids.

  37. justin says:

    I think all this begs for a national regulatory body. Sen McCain has talked about one for boxing in the past, and all this crap should make it a priority for the UFC. I would love to see them hire a DC lobbying firm, push for Congress to hold hearings on the matter, and get passed some type of federal regulatory body that licenses fighters, requires random mandatory drug tests for all fighters with active licenses, and tests every fighter on every card that is sanctioned. Will it make ticket prices more expensive for some smaller shows – yes, but in the long run it will clean up the sport and I think it will be worthwhile.

  38. Jonathan says:

    Good Lord this has gotten so far out of hand and hella deep….I need clift notes for this website now just to get through one post. God help me if I miss a day.

Comments

*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture.
Anti-spam image