Now he’s avoiding guys, cancelling multiple fights and just plain looking like he’s not giving 100%. Too bad.

And not for a good reason IMO since Mir has always been just a huge dude.
He was huge before he got wrecked up, then he got fat, and then he got huge again.

He may have gotten huge somewhat quickly, which might indicate a little more than old fashioned hard work, but his body hasn’t been altered from the one he always had.

I’d even go so far as to call the Mir allegations an offshot or related to overeems public relations debacle.

As you pointed out, fighters who have been caught and admitted it have been forgiven by fans.

However, that is not what Strikeforce is talking about doing. They are talking about partnering with “It’s Showtime” to do mixed shows in Europe, where kickboxing is much more accepted than in the USA. That could work quite well, especially in countries where MMA is demonized but kickboxing is accepted.

“Tim Lueckenoff, commissioner for the Missouri Office of Athletics, said the regulatory body will test for “all illegal and unprescribed drugs.”

Yeesh, this guy is starting to sound like Jerry McDevitt. “All illegal and unprescribed drugs” could be a fancy way of saying, “He can take all the steroids he wants as long as he’s able to produce a prescription for it from a (mark) doctor.”

Whether that’s the way Lueckenoff meant it or not, “Illegal and unprescribed drugs” is the kind of language that WWE routinely uses to defend their joke of a drug policy.

That’s why I made the comparison between Overeem and Bonds. They got all the heat from the writers and the hardcores because they were on top and they were heels. If they were faces, the first question out of a lot of people’s mouths wouldn’t be about steroids. It’s just a commentary on how the media picks favorites and picks on which certain athletes get the heat while others with dirtier reputations go largely unnoticed.

I’ve had access to him for over a decade, if not longer. Anyone worth their salt in the media that covered a Japanese event can contact him or any of his fighters for an interview. The same can be said when Motoko Uchida was managing BTT fighters and Miro Mijatovic had his stable of fighters as well. I never had a relationship with Koichi Kawasaki, but plenty in the Brazilian media did. So it’s not like you have to do any favors for anyone to get an interview. Sorry to burst your bubble.

I’ve never taken a stance on Alistair positive or negative. The only observation I’ve made is that because he’s viewed by so many people as a bad guy that he’s getting the Bonds treatment, which is an accurate analogy, and a completely ironic one given that on his Strikeforce card we have some fighters who had issues in the past with PEDs.

The irony on Overeem getting asked mostly questions about steroids is not lost on me when you consider that you have a fight next week with Tim Sylvia (busted for steroids) vs. Mariusz Pudzianowski (who failed a drug test for World’s Strongest Man in 2004). It’s funny that of all the guys in the business who are cheating, it’s Overeem who has become the big magnet and the big poster boy for it. He’s gotten that unfavorable attention because of his persona and character.