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« | Home | »

Wednesday war room: From the horse’s mouth

By Zach Arnold | July 24, 2007

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Pro Elite puts money into Cage Rage. Not a bad plan. Plus, Nick Diaz returns September 15th in Hawaii.

Kevin Iole is reading your letters and responding back. To e-mail him with MMA-related topics, use [email protected]. Plus, he made an appearance Tuesday on Fight Network Radio. Audio here.

Lots of interesting odds and ends in the latest agenda list for the July 31st NSAC meeting. UFC’s year-end event will happen at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on 12/29.

I know that Alex Marvez was supposed to attend the Association of Boxing Commissions annual conference (7/24 – 7/28) in Miami, Florida. Has there been any news to come out of the conference yet? Last week on Fight Network Radio, Marvez alluded to an item on the ABC agenda in which there would be discussion about more drug testing in boxing.

It’s nice to see that Hidehiko Yoshida is keeping hope alive for a PRIDE revival, while at the same time saying that he wants to go to UFC and not forget about PRIDE.

Top sports blog The Big Lead is asking the following question — Why isn’t anyone reporting on steroids in UFC? You can e-mail TBL at [email protected] if inclined to do so.

Kit Cope talked about failing a steroids test in Nevada in an interview here. Money quote:

MMA.WORKSHOP: Prodigy of Sherdog.net asks: You were caught not to long ago for steroids, which is obviously a banned substance. Any reason why you were taking the drug, for clarification of your fans? Have you been banned from the sport for a year, if not, when is your next fight and with what organization? Of course if anything is scheduled yet.

Kit Cope: I did test positive for a substance called boldenone. It was given to me BY MY DOCTOR after my shoulder reconstruction for healing purposes 13 months prior. My test yielded 7 nanograms of the metabolites in my system. Not the substance. Metabolites are basically the trash it leaves behind. It is only detectable as low as 5 nanograms! What that means is a day or two later I would have been clean. I lost 30 pounds last year!(not conducive to steroid use) Anyway, I was suspended for 9 months pending a clean test which I did 20 days after and was totally clean.

One question – he had a personal doctor prescribing a horse steroid to him? Remember, boldenone is a anabolic steroid legally available for prescription at a vet. Wonder if Kit would be interested in naming the doctor he used?

A steroid that tastes like nontoxic anti-freeze – sounds delicious. In other steroids news, no more drug testing in high schools in the state of Tennessee. Tennessee is home to Aegis Labs and Dr. David Black, who got criticized in the media during his cable news appearances last week in defense of WWE’s drug-testing policy.

The city of Willmar in Minnesota is now going to prohibit alcohol sales at local MMA events.

Onto today’s headlines.

  1. Komikazee: MMA Smackdown #33 w/ Sam Hoger & discussion of MMA’s drug culture w/ Steve Sievert (a very interesting show – go listen)
  2. The Houston Chronicle: UFC 74 bolstered with Stevenson, Grove
  3. IFL HP: Dear Don – advice from The Predator
  4. Sam Caplan: Conference call notes for debut of ShoXC
  5. Gleidson Venga: Patient Wanderlei still wants Liddell
  6. Komikazee: MMA writers react emotionally, not rationally to steroid problem
  7. Bodog Beat: Matt Lindland interview
  8. Gary Herman: Q & A with former UFC welterweight champion GSP
  9. CBS Sportsline: The 10 biggest underachievers in MMA
  10. The LA Times: Liddell’s UFC ‘comeback’ bout to be in Anaheim on 9/22
  11. The New York Sun: Gambling’s weight on sports
  12. The Curry Pilot (OR): Caged up – fighters rise and fall in the octagon (it’s a profile piece on a fighter named Larry Munyon)
  13. MMA Weekly: Updated Top 10 rankings
  14. MMA Passport: Drug use in MMA
  15. The Newark Star-Ledger (NJ): MMA is America’s fastest-growing sport

Topics: BoDog, Boxing, Brazil, IFL, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, UK, WEC, Zach Arnold | 23 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

23 Responses to “Wednesday war room: From the horse’s mouth”

  1. Randy Rowles says:

    Perhaps Kit Cope had his surgery done by a…veternarian?!? He is an animal after all. Maybe he thought that would give him a loophole.

    Too funny. He just casually says his doctor prescribed him horse steroids, and it apparantly goes right over the reporter’s head.

  2. Preach says:

    To quote Mark “The Hammer” Coleman at Bushido Europe: “Hey, what can I say? I’m a horse!”

  3. Jonachi says:

    Zack the feed to Itunes doesn’t seem to work anymore. As of this week I’m not recieving any radio. Damn.

  4. Zach Arnold says:

    I just loaded iTunes and it is picking up the 7/23 show, which is current. If you have troubles, try re-installing the feed in your program;

    http://feeds.feedburner.com/fightopinionradio – it shows that it has the latest radio program on the feed

  5. Ivan Trembow says:

    Any doctor prescribing an illegal horse steroid to a human patient could have their medical license revoked. In addition, the FDA issued a health warning on that particular horse steroid last year, saying that it should not be given to horses if anyone plans to eat those horses at a later date.

  6. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    The 12/29 date has been rumoured for a while now. It’s nice to see it kinda confirmed though. Depending on how many other UFNs we have, there are already about seven events scheduled by the end of the year, and we have this month-long layoff right now.

  7. Mike Schroeder says:

    Good article on the 10 biggest underachievers in MMA. I think it takes a lot of guts to defy the forum warriors and list BJ Penn on that list. Until he actually beats a top ten fighter again, he should be the king of that list.

  8. Jordan Breen says:

    Vehemently disagree on the Underachievers.

    Tanner? Evan Tanner underachieves? The guy is closing in on 40, and never even really got rolling until he was well into his 30’s. For years, he fought bigger guys at 205 and above. Moreover, he chalked up a very respectable resume, considering he really isn’t outstanding in any one respect. He has the jack of all trades, master of none arsenal that would expect out of a guy who trained himself with instructional tapes and then nomadically wandered in and out of training camps all over the place. The guy is a career overachiever.

    And Frank Mir? Why? When did Frank Mir look great? Yes, he was UFC champion and snapped Sylvia’s arm in half, but that and a nifty inside shoulder lock aside, what had Mir ever done? He got absolutely pistol-whipped against Ian Freeman, and whether or not the cosmos were on Freeman’s side that night, Mir looked absolutely overwhelmed against a guy who is tough, but lasted the bat of an eyelash against a still fairly raw Arlovski a few months later. I fail to understand how a guy is an underachiever if in his prime, he showed career-long cardio problems, unremarkable stand-up and struggled with Wes Sims. Mir was in the right place at the right time for a positively anemic UFC heavyweight class.

    Carter Williams? WTF?

    Ricco and Terrell are EASY top ten guys. EASY. KJ Noons and Gabe Ruediger aren’t on the radar. And Chris Lytle? Why does he underachieve? He’s a small technically skilled slickster in a weight class dominated for the last 6 years by much bigger, physically imposing top position guys. I just don’t understand the rationale.

  9. MildernhardPark says:

    Thats good that theyve Stopped Selling Liquor at MMA Events.

  10. Zack says:

    I agree with everything Jordan said. Also, I would’ve listed Allistar’s brother Valentijn instead of him. Dude could’ve been a force if he would’ve ever buckled down and gone for it.

  11. JOSH says:

    For anyone intrested the IFL announced their GP brackets

    http://ifl.tv/News-07Jul25-GP-Announcement.html

    Suprising enough the winners of the GP will get belts that bthey will defend next year. Dont know if that means they defend it everytime they step into the ring or not during team competition. Should be intresting to see.

    I am a little miffed by some of the people that they overlooked in the GP match ups like Savant Young who actually had a better win record than Bart P. over the year BUT I can see how promoting Horodecki/Palasweski II would be more marketable than having Young in. Oh well.

  12. Zack says:

    They scheduled the finals on the same name as the year end UFC show. BRILLIANT!

  13. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    Hm, Mohegan Sun.

    Man…I’m torn. I want to go see a show that’s practically in my back yard (well, three hours), but I seriously don’t like those shady guys running the show at IFL.

    At least the Grand Prix isn’t in the same gimmicky team format. I’ll probably plan to do it.

  14. StreitigKaiser says:

    CBS’s list of underachievers was spot on. All of those fighters have the potential to be champions but always blow their chances in significant or competitive bouts. Most of those guys have seen their glory days come and go and at such young ages too comparatively. They should also add Jens Pulver, Joachim Hansen and Ken Shamrock to that list.

  15. StreitigKaiser says:

    Who do you guys think are the Top 10 most underrated fighters? Im talking about guys with tons of potential who still have not been tapped to fight in today’s mainstream events like UFC, K-1, and EliteXC; and could bring a competitive game to their weight division.

    10. Masakazu Imanari
    If the UFC is into drafting Japanese talent they might as well start with this foot locking menace.

    9. Ben Rothwell
    Undefeated in his last 11 matches, most of those being in the IFL, Rothwell has smashed his way into Heavyweight recruiting worth.

    8. Urijah Faber
    Is relegated to WEC after Tyson Griffin is chosen over him but still dominates in lower venues.

    7. Robbie Lawler
    His domination of ICONSport (and Frank Trigg) has shown that the old Robbie Lawler is back.

    6. Rory Markham
    I don’t consider IFL mainstream and Markham is draftable talent, at least for TUF.

    5. Yoshiro Maeda
    Easily one of the most exciting lightweights from the Land of the Rising Sun. His improved skill set would make for a bloody showdown with Roger Huerta.

    4. Kazuyuki Fujita
    If Fujita joined a non-pro wrestling related camp, he could be a major threat in the Heavyweight division.

    3. Shinya Aoki
    A submission machine who has seemingly fallen off the radar.

    2. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (Where did he go?)
    He destroys Little Nog and Arona but no UFC contract?

    1. Paulo Filho
    Easily the most underrated fighter in MMA, He has dominated everyone he has fought but no UFC contract?

  16. Michaelthebox says:

    I can maybe see Hansen, by why Pulver and Shamrock? Pulver has had a successful career fighting one weight class above the one he should be at, and Shamrock was one of the best fighters in the world until he got old.

  17. Zack says:

    Why Hansen? He got subbed by Aoki but other than that he’s still at the top of his game. The Sakarai decision was so close.

  18. muhr says:

    The only AAS I’m aware of that has evidence indicating it might be useful for shoulder injuries is nandrolone. Interestingly, the type of injury they’re possibly useful for is rotator cuff tears, the type of injury Sean Sherk had.

  19. 45 Huddle says:

    I live fairly close to the Mohegan Sun as well, and I’m not sure if I am going. Some of these fighters just don’t get me excited to watch them fight.

    There is on promoter who scares me more then the IFL guys. And that is Gary Shaw. Read this article:

    http://www.thefightnetwork.com/news_detail.php?nid=4381

    1. The guy wants to implement a 160 lbs division for Pro Elite. Are the “unified rules” not good enough for him?

    2. He comments on how the UFC makes people pay every month to see fights. Yet completely ignores the fact that the only way to see the marquee Pro Elite fights is either by ordering a PPV or watching it through a PAY CHANNEL.

    3. He has no plans for EliteXC to do any testing of their own. People can complain about Dana White all they want, but this guy is worse on the steroid topic.

    4. A last point, while not mentioned on there. The ShoXC card will be having a King of the Cage vs. Gladiator Challenge Unification fight. That means in EliteXC’s short history, they will have already showcased 4 different organizational championship belts. 5 if you count Cage Rage on Pro Elite. What other sport has “champions” all of their fight cards with none of the casual fans being able to tell who the best and who isn’t. If there is one thing the UFC did correctly, they have showcased basically one title (UFC) on their broadcast. The Pride belts will be coming in soon, but you can bet that the UFC title will still be a showcase belt.

    I just get a bad feeling about this Gary Shaw character. He is bad news.

  20. Ivan Trembow says:

    On the steroids front: Note to ESPN: The next time you want to have a “SportsCenter Town Hall Meeting” about Barry Bonds, DON’T HAVE IT IN SAN FRANCISCO, where the crowd is going to wildly cheer every pro-Bonds statement and ignorantly boo every anti-Bonds statement. How many of those fans have read “Game of Shadows”? How many of those fans would give a damn even if they did read the facts that are meticulously laid out in “Game of Shadows”?

  21. Zack says:

    “2. He comments on how the UFC makes people pay every month to see fights. Yet completely ignores the fact that the only way to see the marquee Pro Elite fights is either by ordering a PPV or watching it through a PAY CHANNEL.”

    A ton of people just have Showtime/HBO in their normal cable package. Paying the cable bill is kinda just like paying the electric bill. If you want to nitpick, I think Showtime is $12 here…there’s a difference between that and paying $40 for a PPV.

    I don’t care either way really…I watch all the UFC’s for free at a bar down the street.

    “3. He has no plans for EliteXC to do any testing of their own. People can complain about Dana White all they want, but this guy is worse on the steroid topic.”

    On a weird note he did say he tested Crazy Horse and said he was clean. He was pretty adamant about how he was sure CH was drug free. He said if any of his fighters tested positive, he would test them again himself before he promoted them for the next show.

    He’s a promoter so I don’t believe much he says, but your posts are ALWAYS blindly pro-UFC, anti-any other MMA, I’m just throwing the other side of the story out there.

    “4. A last point, while not mentioned on there. The ShoXC card will be having a King of the Cage vs. Gladiator Challenge Unification fight. That means in EliteXC’s short history, they will have already showcased 4 different organizational championship belts. ”

    Well in their defense, they are unifying those two belts, so that’s one less belt out there. How many 205lb champions are the Fertittas currently employing? Three.

  22. Sam Caplan says:

    Jordan:

    Glad you enjoyed the list.

    Tanner didn’t start rolling until later than most guys but he picked it up quick. Maybe he’s not ADCC-caliber when it comes to submissions but his ground game is solid and he’s one of the more well-rounded fighters at 185 lbs. Before he had issues he was no longer competing against bigger guys. The middleweight division is the UFC’s thinnest and if Tanner had his act together he easily could be in the title picture right now, hence his status as an underachiever. As for age, if a fighter hasn’t shown it in MMA when has age been an issue? I believe he’s 36-37, there’s still plenty of time for one more run.

    Mir isn’t well-rounded but the in regard to the one area he has going for him, he’s great. How many heavyweights in the UFC have as good of a ground game as he does? Not very many (yes, Big ‘Nog and Gonzaga are better). The UFC heavyweight division is too deep for him to be a title contender at this point but I think he’s good enough to be a middle-of-the-road guy at this point. He’s not anywhere close to that. Conditioning is indeed an issue, which is an area a fighter has a lot more control of than others and he hasn’t done it. He didn’t develop a standup game either and he trains in a city that has more MMA gyms in the U.S. now than any other city. I don’t see where the huge question is there.

    As for Carter Williams, I can’t really comment on your statement because there isn’t much there. But a guy with his striking ability who was good enough to go through some pretty good kickboxers in order to win the U.S. K-1 Grand Prix has a lot of potential to me. Since coming over into MMA he’s been as big of an underachiever as he was in K-1. If he fully dedicated himself he could be a big-time contender.

  23. Daniel says:

    I have to say, that I could not agree with you in 100% regarding inion.com – Your Global Connection to the Fight Industry., but it’s just my opinion, which could be wrong 🙂

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