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Is this the kind of acting career Rampage wants to give UFC up for to pursue?

By Zach Arnold | April 5, 2012

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“How to Pick Up a Gurl – Fast.” Wonder when he recorded this — before or after testosterone usage? (Someone go ask Karyn Bryant.) Before or after his claims of double knee surgery with Dr. Steve Mora?

Yesterday, Victor Conte pondered if Rampage Jackson is now the Jose Canseco of MMA in terms of exposing the floodgates of testosterone usage in MMA. After watching this video, you might actually think that the Canseco comparison is a little too accurate when describing Rampage as a man who is not exactly a genius of judgment.

If acting and UFC careers go awry for Rampage, he’ll always have his induction into MMA’s Testosterone Hall of Fame to put on his résumé. With such fellow luminaries as Alistair Overeem (allegedly), Dan Henderson, Todd Duffee, Shane Roller, Nate Marquardt, Chael Sonnen, Dennis Hallman, Bristol Marunde, and Ken Shamrock.

Mark April 24th on your calendar

That’s the date set for the next Nevada State Athletic Commission hearing where the fate of Nick Diaz will be determined. It will be fascinating to see what kind of impact Ross Goodman (of the royal Vegas family) has on the outcome of the proceedings.

I think this hearing is a huge test for Keith Kizer’s credibility in many ways. Why? He’ll be sending one hell of a message if Nick Diaz, a second time marijuana ‘offender’, gets punished on the same (if not higher) level as current steroid users are getting punished at. Will the book get thrown at Nick here?

While I’m not a cheerleader for guys getting into a cage high as a kite, I also do not consider marijuana to be a significant Performance Enhancing Drug when compared to anabolic steroids/testosterone. Call me crazy, I just don’t see someone having marijuana metabolites in their system to be the same as someone getting caught for, say, elevated levels of testosterone at fight time.

Since Keith Kizer loves to be a politician in the media, I would love to see someone confront him on the marijuana issue. If somebody can get past the boilerplate ‘a banned substance is a banned substance’ rhetoric, I’d love to see him get grilled on the following questions:

  1. Do you consider marijuana to be a performance enhancing drug for fighters in combat sports?
  2. If you consider marijuana to be a PED, do you consider the effects of marijuana to be of similar enhancement to anabolic steroids & testosterone?
  3. Would you treat someone equally if they applied for a marijuana Therapeutic Use Exemption the same way you claim to treat guys who ask for testosterone TUEs?

If Keith Kizer wants to run to his media friends whenever he wants to get his side of a story in public, then let’s see the tables get turned on him here and actually answer some serious questions about the way drugs are currently weighted in terms of testing for performance.

By the way, I’m not the only one who has serious questions about Nevada’s Director. Victor Conte is on the warpath about what’s going on right now with all the positive drug tests in MMA. Take a look at what he’s had to say recently:

As soon as you start to use drugs you become a liar RT @ShokoAsahara: thought he said he got yolked from eating horse meat?

If UFC’s Overeem had a 5:1 T/E ratio, then he would have been negative under Nevada rules, but positive under California rules. BIG PROBLEM!

The 6:1 T/E rule in NEVADA needs to be CHANGED! Period. California & most of the world have been using a 4:1 limit over 5 yrs. GET REAL!

When is @danawhite going to wake up and smell the UFC testosterone abuse party! How much more obvious can this rampant problem become?

@danawhite needs UFC to use an independent anti-doping entity like VADA. Does MMA need the fox guarding the hen house? Hope you don’t plan to have a UFC anti-doping program that will be run by a UFC employee.

The protocol is for an elevated T/E ratio is confirmed by B sample testing w/ witnesses. Follow up CIR testing for “synthetic” test confirms. Simple. CIR (Carbon Isotope Ratio) testing for “synthetic” testosterone as a screen test would quickly reduce testosterone abuse in the UFC.

@danawhite The answer to cost effective drug testing for the UFC is right there in Las Vegas. VADA is on stand by. So do the right thing.

Keith Kizer. Answer the 64K ? Why does NEVADA use a 6:1 T/E ratio when the Olympics, MLB, NFL all use 4:1. Is it to help athletes cheat?

Poor excuse. RT @Rick_Guy: @VictorConte To attract big fights. Vegas is hurting and a stringent testing policy would only deter promoters.

Is @danawhite more mad because Overeem tested positive or because he lied to him about it? Still trying to sort that one out. Could @danawhite have possibly thought Overeem was not juicing before he tested positive?

On April 9th, there’s a hearing in Sacramento over what to do regarding Therapeutic Use Exemptions and the testosterone issue. MMA fans who want the sport cleaned up need to make a vocal stand now so that the commission and George Dodd hear you loud and clear. For commissions, money talks but so does political pressure and the testosterone issue is a loser for everyone.

This right here is the rule up for debate to amend. If you would like to send a public comment (e-mail), the guidelines are right here. The primary person to contact to send comments is: Kathi Burns ([email protected]) & back-up contact is Elizabeth Parkman ([email protected]). Make sure to title your e-mail like this or with the identifying key words:

Be professional in tone & content when sending e-mails to the DCA on this matter. The two PDF links I placed up above will tell you the information you need to know on what’s up for debate.

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 22 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

22 Responses to “Is this the kind of acting career Rampage wants to give UFC up for to pursue?”

  1. Jonathan Snowden says:

    If we can blame bad videos on testosterone what is next? The national debt? The housing crisis? Can we blame Two and a Half Men on the testosterone crisis?

  2. Norm says:

    Why is Conte being referenced as the voice of reason with regard to TRT/steroids?

    He single handedly corrupted a variety of sports and world class athletes.

    He actually served a prison sentence related to his illegal activies.

    Now we are supposed to believe he is the catalyst for changing the rules/implementing more strict regulations/testing?

    • Zach Arnold says:

      Why is Conte being referenced as the voice of reason with regard to TRT/steroids?

      He single handedly corrupted a variety of sports and world class athletes.

      He actually served a prison sentence related to his illegal activies.

      Now we are supposed to believe he is the catalyst for changing the rules/implementing more strict regulations/testing?

      Why do world governments hire hackers to go after other hackers?

      Drug usage is a nasty field and you have to fight fire with fire. Victor’s the modern Godfather of doping. Nobody knows the ins and outs like him. His information on drug testing has been accurate.

      • Norm says:

        Actually, no Conte is not the modern godfather of doping. Patrick Arnold is.

        Conte was more of a glorified secretary tracking cycles.

      • Jason Harris says:

        Conte seems awfully self aggrandizing. He jumps onto topics that he knows will get him a lot of attention so he can use his infamy to hock energy drinks.

    • The Gaijin says:

      “Now we are supposed to believe he is the catalyst for changing the rules/implementing more strict regulations/testing?”

      I’d say we’ve seen numerous examples of this throughout history in a variety of fields, so I’m not really understanding why everyone thinks that just because he was previously on the bad side he should be immediately discredited and never listened to.

  3. JJ says:

    Since Keith Kizer loves to be a politician in the media, I would love to see someone confront him on the marijuana issue.

    So why don’t you confront him? His email and phone numbers are available to the public. You can do it yourself.

    Oh, wait. Because then you wouldn’t be able to spend all of your time bashing the media while doing no real work of your own.

    • Zach Arnold says:

      *laugh*

      There’s great irony in your quote considering I have spent this week on the phone talking to many different AC heads and doctors who are knowledgable on drug issues in the MMA climate.

      Accusing me of being afraid to deal with someone isn’t going to get you very far. Neither is refusing to use a valid e-mail address. Next time you don’t post valid information, permanent doom of moderation queue for you.

      • Jonathan Snowden says:

        If you’ve done the work of first hand reporting, where is the end product? I see a lot of quotes from other writers, but none from your talks with these AC heads. It would be helpful and advance the cause to put your own material out in the world….

  4. HeadKck says:

    seems as if zach is the only MMA “media” member that’s actually treating this whole issue as a serious problem everyone else is more or less just disappointed they dont get to see a fight.. i cant help but feel theres a mainstream reporter (maybe an MMA/Dana hater) somewhere out there collecting info just waiting to lay all the facts out(names of doctors, clients& their drug of choice) .. cant imagine how many reporters are salivating at the thought of being the one to break a huge PED scandal that can possibly cripple the “fastest growing sport in the world” and its asshole president that cant seem to stop burning bridges….

  5. klown says:

    The video is disgraceful.

  6. Chromium says:

    Really, I think Rampage is simply trying to get fired at this point. Not kidding. He can’t be this stupid. Like I said elsewhere, he must be pretty pissed at Overeem about now for stealing attention from this.

  7. Nepal says:

    Dana can’t really fire Overeem. Overeem would go fight Fedor in Japan or India or Singapore. Screw the commissions.

    He can’t really fire Rampage either. King Mo might, like Overeem just screw the suspension and fight Rampage abroad.

    Dana can’t allow another promotion to get talent (despite the roids) of that level fight in a non-UFC event.

    • EJ says:

      Actually Rampage is another loss from being released and becoming the next Tim Sylvia and Overeem is also on thin ice now.

      The UFC has proven they aren’t going to overpay for fighters who aren’t worth the trouble. Rampage is unmotivated and lost his draw status while Overeem isn’t a draw and lost any chance to be one anytime soon.

      If Bellator of anyone else wants to pull an Affliction the UFC will be very happy to let them and pick up what’s left of another dead mma promotion.

      • 45 Huddle says:

        It almost feels like Zuffa is trying to bait Bellator by releasing Lawal and saying Rampage is gone after this.

        They could have easily matched Affliction with Sylvia and Arlovski, and instead let them sink. Same with Dan Henderson with Strikeforce.

        And then they make strong bids to the companies free agents which means they either lose their champions or are forced to pay above market value.

        This has been Zuffa’s strategy for the last 5+ years. It is still running strong.

        • Nepal says:

          Bellator has shown its not interested in paying big bucks for UFC or otherwise top talent (Alvarez excepted). They just wouldn’t pay the required money for Rampage.

          Maybe if someone in Asia or India (yes, I realize India is in Asia) came up with something reasonable like $50K to show and $80K with win bonus, guys like King Mo might go for it. Most of these guys aren’t rich. Rampage and Overeem certainly are but they’re the exceptions.

          The days of UFC baiting other organizations to bankrupt themselves might be coming to a close. There will always be a market for UFC castoffs if they’re good enough fighters and they’re willing to fight at more reasonable rates.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          1) If they don’t pay the money, then they became a defacto feeder league to the UFC. Does SpikeTV want that to happen? Build up a fighter over 8 or so fights, and then constantly lose their better fighters?

          2) Big companies have a way of messing up things. With Viacom purchasing a big chunk of Bellator, I could easily see an executive think it is wise to pay Quinton Jackson or Fedor Emelianenko a high 6 figure per fight contract. It’s not out of the realm of possibilities…

  8. […] Arnold of Fight Opinion finds himself critical of Rampage’s latest comedy […]

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