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Bas Rutten’s had enough of lousy officiating & TRT usage by steroiders in MMA
By Zach Arnold | July 9, 2011
OVINCE ST. PREUX: “I mean, when I was playing football some type of guys were on some type of supplements just to give them that extra edge. Everybody wants that extra edge. I mean, with football, if you’re with the third team or second team and you know this guy right here’s is first team and what separates you between him and you, you need that extra edge and once you get that extra edge it kind of help you a lot. Unfortunately, in a situation like that, I mean in the long run it’s going to hurt you, in the short term it’s not. So, a lot of times you end up getting caught. I know with football I know what they do a lot is do random drug testing, which is they show up and, hey, you got to take a drug test.”
KENNY RICE: “And they regulate it more in college football than in any of the MMA world.”
FRANK TRIGG: “Well, it’s different, too, in college football because you’re basically… this is going to sound bad the way it comes out of my mouth… You’re basically owned by the university that you play for, if they give you a scholarship to play…”
KENNY RICE: “You’re not owned by the UFC when you’re in the UFC?”
FRANK TRIGG: “But remember, you’re not at the dorm, you’re not living at campus. They don’t know where you’re at 24 hours a day.”
KENNY RICE: “In MMA, you can say one thing in any organization and be booted. In college football, you could take a stand and they say freedom of speech, they may reprimand you.”
FRANK TRIGG: “True, true, you know, but it’s still… it’s easier in college football because they know what dorm you’re staying at. They know where he was, every moment of the day. They don’t know where I am every moment of the day.”
KENNY RICE: “Nobody does.”
OVINCE ST. PREUX: “Basically you get a phone call from the training room and be like, ‘Ovince, we need you down in the training room.’ ‘For what?’ You come down, you got to take a drug test.”
KENNY RICE: “Does it come down to what Bas said last week, you know, he never had any worries about this because he ate food and drank water. And that was kind of the end of the story.”
BAS RUTTEN: “Plus, I feel good about myself. The moment you’re taking it, you’re weak in the mind, that’s what I’m saying. If it’s up to you that you have to take all that shit, that’s what I call it, to compete with the other ones, then don’t compete. Know your fight.”
DENNIS HALLMAN: “Hey Bas, what if you’re weak in the body?”
BAS RUTTEN: “If you’re weak in the body?”
DENNIS HALLMAN: “Like… first, you have to be educated and understand…”
BAS RUTTEN: “Oh, so, we have the doctor on the thing and the low testosterone that it comes from prior use, that’s what you mean?”
DENNIS HALLMAN: “No, no, no. Okay, testosterone is metabolized from cholesterol, okay, cholesterol is made in your small intestines and your liver. Okay, say you have an intestinal disease like I have, celiac, and now your body is not producing the right cholesterol which metabolizes into Pregnenolone, which will then metabolize into your hormones and now you have low hormones because you have an intestinal disease. Does that mean that you’re weak in the mind or does it mean you’re weak in the body?”
BAS RUTTEN: “What I said on this show is if you’re taking it for an injury, it’s cool. If you’re lower testosterone and you want to be average, that’s cool. If you take it for performance-enhancing drugs, you’re a loser. That’s what I’m saying. You see a lot of guys doing it and then they get armbarred or choked. It doesn’t improve your techniques. It doesn’t improve, for me it shows the bigger they are… When I was fighting in Japan, the bigger they are they say for me it shows weakness. For me it shows, oh, this guy is not happy with himself and that’s why he’s doing it.”
DENNIS HALLMAN: “So, we should have two standards then, the people that are on Hormone Replacement Therapy and then the people that are taking steroids illegally.”
BAS RUTTEN: “I say just don’t cross the line. I think that Nate Marquardt crossed the line because he did it, he took the choice to do it and he wrecks up a main event, that’s a serious thing. Not if you’re a lower card guy, then I say, okay, if you do it, do it and don’t get caught. But that’s what I’m saying, you got to do Olympic testing. Go test in between also, do the HRT, let them make sure that you never get over that certain amount for testing.”
DENNIS HALLMAN: “If you’re on HRT, you should get tested every six weeks. If you have a legitimate doctor, then you’re tested every 6-8 weeks for your hormone levels to make sure that your hormones, your body could be producing hormones again by themselves, you don’t know the extent of the damage to your body.”
As a bonus, here’s Kenny Rice talking about how bad the state of MMA officiating is. So bad, as he puts it, that fighters ‘can be shooting up in the corner’ and nobody cares. He’s referring to an online MMA Junkie poll on the matter.
KENNY RICE: “I mean, three out of four people say it’s officiating and judging, that’s some serious stuff.”
BAS RUTTEN: “It is serious and it is true, you know, they should put the paychecks higher, let ex-fighters judge because they can’t do it right now is because they don’t make anything.”
KENNY RICE: “There’s nothing to gain in there, is it? There’s nothing to gain out there.”
BAS RUTTEN: “It’s like being a cop, you know, those people deserve more money.”
KENNY RICE: “I say it’s going to take this, it’s going to take another 4-5 years down the road maybe when one of you guys decide to retire and say, this is what I’m going to do possibly and where you get more guys who have actually competed where you don’t have the boxing background guy or the wrestling background guy but the MMA background guy that’s going to be sitting there judging the fights. It may be a while off but I don’t know, what other solution can anybody come up with immediately?”
DENNIS HALLMAN: “Well, in my state, you’re allowed to be a fighter. I’m a licensed judge and referee and inspector, I just can’t judge or referee anybody that I have anything to do with in training or been affiliated with, so that helps a lot. But for up-and-coming fighters, you know, it lets them have a experienced judge or referee. I think the biggest problem is you got these judges that make horrendous decisions and then they can continually get put back in there judging fights over and over.”
KENNY RICE: “Do they have anybody on deck, though? That’s what I wonder. I don’t know how competitive is it out there where somebody says, you know, I can do better, I want to be the next judge? I mean, who’s out there? Bas is making movies, Frank is doing commentating for us and fighting as well, Ovince is busy with his career, Dennis is busy with his career.”
FRANK TRIGG: “I agree with you, Kenny, it’s going to be one of us having to retire and go, look, we’re going to step into the judging and, you know, someone who’s got a legit, full-time background in MMA to become a judge and kind of clean it up, not clean it up but make it better, improve it. You know, Keith Kizer of Nevada is doing the best job he can with what he has and he stands behind all his judges, stands behind all his refs because he really tries with what he’s got but what you got is what you got, you’re right, there’s no one in the wings waiting to come in and step in and once you get a better guy, people are going to start asking for, hey, I need Bas Rutten as my judge, this is the guy, I want him as my judge and people start requesting him, then other people start coming in as well. But it’s not going to be (at least) 4-5 years…”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 16 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The saddest thing about the MMA Junkie poll is that Traumatic Brain Injury to fighters comes in last. Nobody cares about the fighters? I’m disappointed.
I think you have to look at it in this manner:
The majority of fans do not care about drug usage and concussions.
The minority of fans that do care about drug usage, a small percentage of them care about concussions.
So, a small subset of those who care about medical issues for fighters truly cares about CTE. Maybe 5%. Maybe.
Hold on, did Dennis Hallman basically admit to using TRT?
Zach, here is something you might be interested in reporting.
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-s978/money
The UFC supports Bill S.978. It also means, that those videos of people at live events will be considered illegal.
I thought it was very interesting seeing Hallman and Trigg sitting next to each other after their past. Kinda crazy their feud was like 7 or 8 years ago.
Didn’t Bas Rutten get busted for steroid use and basically try to avoid all blame on himself?
He got busted for painkillers if I recall correctly. Apparently he’d torn a hamstring/knee ligament or something like that a few weeks before the fight.
I think you might be thinking of Kimo, who Rutten was supposed to be fighting, who did in fact test positive for steroids like 3 days before the fight.
Bas tested positive for hydrocodone and morphine.
Nope, Bas has never been popped for steroids. He tested positive for painkillers after the Warpath fight, and said that he was taking them with a prescription from his doctor due to some pre-fight injuries and didn’t realize they were included on the drug screenings.
Speaking of bad refereeing, it looks like a ref at some regional Canadian promotion was trying to help Randy Couture get out of one of his alimony payments…poor Kim.
LOL! Jesus!
What happened was Kim Couture lost a fight against Sheila Bird via leg scissor choke. Couture never submitted, but the ref let the fight go on too long, and Couture was knocked out for about a minute. Very dangerous situation.
“KENNY RICE: “Does it come down to what Bas said last week, you know, he never had any worries about this because he ate food and drank water. And that was kind of the end of the story.””
LOL
Bas took one drug test in his entire career (and failed it). Of course he was never worried about it.
“Bas, what if you’re weak in the body?”
Then you don’t fight.
I remember this coming up before in another thread (can’t remember if it was this site or another) and my answer is the same: then you don’t fight. Competing in MMA is not a God-given right that should be ensured through lax guidelines and exceptions.
If your body no longer cooperates the way it used to and/or you have a condition that, even if treated through traditional means, precludes you from competing at the level you need to, then guess what? You’re not meant for MMA. I get the impression that Hallman was for the most part playing devil’s advocate because he sympathizes to an extent. But his point is, none the less, completely ridiculous. MMA is an athletic competition, and just like any other sport, if you’re not the better athlete you have to be the better tactician. Barring that, then it means YOU CAN’T COMPETE.
Am I the only one that finds this argument maddening?
You’re not the only one. I brought it up long ago. The reason it doesn’t get traction amongst the TRT defenders is because their arguments are more based on emotion and whatever science they want to push rather than logic & fact.
ding ding! thank you.
Hallman sympathizes because he was busted for steroids in Strikeforce. His response sounded like something he has practiced and fine tuned to spit out at a moments notice.