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CBS Sportsline article: MMA’s drug culture, part two
By Zach Arnold | August 1, 2007
This article was originally scheduled to appear on CBS Sportsline. It is part two of the MMA drug culture article series that I wrote for that web site. You can read part one of the article series by clicking here.
On Tuesday, Dana White stated in an ESPN interview the following:
There was one event in the U.K. where things were moving too fast and we were trying to figure out how to do it. But we did drug test in Ireland, we just never made it public and nobody ever asked.
That statement is factually incorrect, as CBS Sportsline editor Denny Burkholder conducted an interview with Marc Ratner two weeks ago. In that interview, Ratner detailed that none of the fighters tested failed their drug tests (four were tested). Quotes from the Marc Ratner interviewe were used in the MMA drug culture article series. In regards to the specifics of the UFC internal drug tests (e.g. the T/E ratio allowed before a fighter fails a test), we did not get those statistics.
Now, here is part two of the CBS Sportsline article series.
Slowing down MMA’s drug culture
By Zach Arnold
The prospect of stopping MMA fighters from taking performance-enhancing drugs seems daunting. One look at the recent drug test results released by the California State Athletic Commission for a three-month period (20 out of the 28 drug test failures involved MMA fighters) says it all.
What makes the list of steroid users in MMA interesting is that many of the fighters who have failed drug tests have also lost the fights they got caught cheating in, including Phil Baroni and Stephan Bonnar. Former UFC heavyweight champion and PRIDE star Josh Barnett says that fighting someone using steroids isn’t going to impact the way a match ends.
“I don’t care if my opponent takes steroids, it won’t be what makes him able to beat me… if he can,” Barnett said.
“Acts of God”
A look at some past scandals from other major sports may shed light on potential ways to change the course of drug-related behavior in MMA.
A literary exposé: The sport of baseball was rocked by two ‘scandal’ books. In his book Ball Four, New York Yankees pitcher Jim Bouton talked about life in the clubhouse of a major league team (The Seattle Pilots) and life on the road with teammates displaying troubling behavior (which included the use of amphetamines known as ‘greenies’). Then, in his 2005 tell-all book Juiced, former Oakland Athletics star Jose Canseco named names and claimed that several big-league players (including Rafael Palmeiro) took steroids. He also claimed that he personally injected or watched steroid injections with several teammates.
The authors of both books received intense scrutiny and major scorn from the baseball industry. Bouton’s book forever changed relationship between baseball players and reporters, as players were afraid that reporters would reveal dark secrets about the lives of the players. Canseco’s book, combined with Congressional hearings in 2005, forced MLB to toughen up its new drug testing policy.
What kind of an impact could a scandalous book or magazine story have on the MMA industry? In North America, not much.
Since there is already drug testing administered by state athletic commissions, promoters are able to pass the blame onto bureaucracies if any fighter slips through the drug-testing cracks. Furthermore, it seems very unlikely that any currently-active fighters will rat out promoters or MMA gyms for drug abuse. The code of silence is a mentality shared across all sports in all locker rooms and gyms.
Because MMA is such a close-knit community, it would be extraordinary to find a person willing to sing like a canary in revealing dirty laundry to the public. It would also be a lawsuit waiting to happen. Look no further than Japan to find out that out.
In 2006, Shukan Gendai (published by Kodansha) leveled a multi-month negative campaign against Dream Stage Entertainment Inc., the former backers of PRIDE. The campaign alleged that DSE was heavily connected to the yakuza (the Japanese mafia). In the Japanese culture, shame is still an important component of the country’s fabric. Therefore, scandals are much more effective in Japan than they are in America. DSE Inc. denied the allegations by Shukan Gendai and threatened to sue Kodansha. In June of 2006, Fuji TV cut ties with PRIDE, and DSE quickly lost significant money without television revenue.
Deaths: You would think that a human being dropping dead would be a reminder to fellow athletes of the grim reaper, but sadly we’ve seen plenty of examples of people who have died from drug abuse and no one even blinks an eye.
Lyle Alzado died in 1992 at the age of 43. Alzado claimed that steroid and growth hormone abuse led to him getting brain cancer. In 2003, Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler died from a combination of heat stroke and ephedra (contained in over-the-counter weight loss pills). Ken Caminiti died in 2004 at the age of 41 from a heart attack. The New York Medical Examiners Office noted that an enlarged heart was a contributing factor to his death.
In pro wrestling, a wrestler dying at an early age with heart-related troubles is common. In May of 2002, Davey Boy Smith died at the age of 39 from a heart attack. An autopsy declared that steroid abuse may have been a contributing factor to Smith’s death. In November of 2005, Eddie Guerrero was found dead in a Minneapolis hotel room as a result of acute heart failure. Reported steroid abuse, including the usage of painkillers and alcohol, contributed to his early death. The list of pro wrestlers who have died under the age of 50 due to heart-related issues is staggering.
Still, there has been little or no decline whatsoever in terms of business for the NFL, MLB, or pro wrestling. Do fans care when athletes die young from alleged drug abuse? They care, but just not enough to stop spending money to support their favorite sport.
So why might the situation be different for MMA?
The modern MMA industry in North America is less than 20 years old. Unlike football or baseball, MMA’s track record with the public is still not fully cemented. Every time a fighter gets suspended, it’s a black mark against the industry’s credibility. If a fighter dies due to drug-related causes, it will give critics of MMA a significant chance to pounce on the sport.
Remember, MMA is only regulated in approximately half of the United States. The sport has not had to deal with a high-profile death, yet. If or when it happens, a media firestorm will engulf the industry. MMA has not had to deal with public scrutiny like the MLB has. The sport also does not want to have the same baggage that professional wrestling carries, either, regarding drug abuse.
Getting busted for supplying and distributing drugs: Time and time again, the police stress in the media that they do not focus on individual drug users (Barry Bonds would probably disagree with this statement). What the Feds do stress, however, is going after the suppliers and distributors. While it appears that there is a more aggressive campaign to track down ‘mark doctors’ who fill drug prescriptions left and right, it doesn’t seem as if that there is a shortage of crooked physicians, scientists, and personal trainers who are ready, able, and willing to dish out drugs like candy to athletes.
Victor Conte, founder of BALCO, served four months in jail and four months under house arrest. Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds’ former personal trainer, served four months in jail on steroid distribution and money laundering charges. He still sits in a jail cell because he refuses to testify in a grand jury investigation against Bonds on accusations of perjury.
Baseball pitcher Jason Grimsley had his house raided in 2006 by the Feds, who were looking for evidence that Grimsley was a distributor of HGH and steroids to baseball players. Former New York Mets clubbie Kirk Radomski admitted to police that he distributed steroids, HGH, and other drugs (including Clenbuterol) to numerous MLB players. In 2005, Anderson Cooper filed a report on 60 Minutes II in which he reported that three members of the 2004 Carolina Panthers Super Bowl team had illegal steroid prescriptions filled by Dr. James Shortt.
In June of 2007, the Pittsburgh Steelers cut ties with team doctor Richard Rydze, a few months after allegations surfaced that Rydze had purchased $150,000 in testosterone and HGH on his own credit card. Rydze’s name surfaced on a customer list during an investigation into online pharmacies in the Orlando area by authorities in Albany, N.Y. It is the same investigation that supposedly rounded up names of pro wrestlers who were on client lists of other online pharmacies. Then, there is Dr. Phil Astin, Chris Benoit’s personal doctor who, in a court affidavit, is accused of prescribing 10 months of steroids to Benoit every three to four weeks. Other wrestlers, including Johnny Grunge (deceased) and Rey Mysterio, have been linked to Astin.
The sheer number of people willing to distribute performance-enhancing drugs is overwhelming and impossible to stop at this point. Looking at examples from other sports, jail time probably will not be a deterrent for drug pushers in MMA. Look at the number of drug-related MMA fighter suspensions this year for that point to be illustrated.
Bas Boon, a manager for the famous Golden Glory fight team in Holland, says that fighting a war against drug pushers is not the way to attack the problem.
“If people really want to use (drugs), they’ll find a way,” Boon said. “They should legalize drugs and get a lot of tax on the product. With that, they should make a worldwide education program about what drugs do to your body, brain, and long-term effects. Help people who are addicted.”
Lawsuits and depositions: Putting someone under oath in front of Congress or in a court of law sounds like a great idea, right?
Not if you happen to be a small fish in a big pond with not a lot of money. Litigation costs a significant amount of money. There is a reason why lawsuits against organizations such as UFC and WWE are limited — those organizations could be willing to string things along in court for several years, which in turn puts a heavy financial strain on any person willing to accuse an organization of shady behavior.
Plus, in UFC’s case they can safely state that they allow athletic commissions to manage the drug testing. Unless someone with a lot of money is willing to accuse a promotion of using doctors to supply or inject drugs, it is very unlikely that we will ever see anything substantial in the North American civil courts in regards to MMA’s drug culture.
Furthermore, what if a fighter sues an agent, or the owner of a gym they train at? Word gets around quickly in MMA and everyone talks to each other. If you were an agent, would you be willing to hire a client who is suing and accusing another agent of shady business practices?
However, there is one type of lawsuit that a few MMA insiders have recently brought up in public. Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, told MMA Weekly in a recent interview that he would not be surprised to see a fighter who tests positive for drugs get criminally prosecuted or sued by his opponent:
There’s a world of difference between that and hitting another human being in the head harder and I wouldn’t be surprised if one day if a fighter severely injures his opponent, the winning fighter then test positive to steroids and you see a district attorney file manslaughter charges against the offending fighter. These guys have to realize this is serious business.
The obvious question is how such action could be enforced legally. It’s actually a simple theory on paper. When you sign a contract to fight, both fighters are consenting to follow the rules established for the fight. Obviously, the allowance of doping is not part of the contract. If one fighter is caught doping and his opponent gets hurt while that fighter is on drugs, that could constitute as a violation of the injured fighter’s consent. Once that consent is violated, the fighter who tested positive for drugs opens himself up to a myriad of liabilities. In a civil case, it would take only a preponderance (51% or higher) of evidence and its truth or accuracy for an injured fighter to claim that the fighter who tested positive for drugs should be held liable for damages. In a criminal case, the threshhold for such a claim would involving proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the fighter caught doping should be convicted.
Looking for solutions
If public scandals, deaths, arrests, and the threat of lawsuits can’t slow down the drug culture in MMA, then how can the culture be minimized? Some ideas:
1. Every fighter on every MMA card should be subjected to drug testing.
There are currently no uniform standards for drug testing of mixed martial artists from state to state. In Nevada, fighters involved in championship bouts are tested (along with random drug testing of a couple of undercard fighters). In California, all fighters on major MMA events are drug tested for both drugs of abuse (marijuana, cocaine, meth, amphetamines) and steroids. However, random testing for both drugs of abuse and steroids occurs on smaller MMA events.
So far, California’s testing is catching an alarming number of offenders. The state has the toughest reputation among fighters for drug testing. Not everyone is comfortable fighting in California. The number of test failures in California is incredibly large compared to other states. Every other state athletic commission either tests a few fighters or no fighters at all. That has to change. Uniformity is needed.
It’s time for a “test one, test all” policy to be implemented. Simply put, if you test a fighter for either steroids or drugs of abuse, you test every fighter for both categories of drugs. The cost involved in mandatory drug testing may be prohibitive, But when you have lives on the line and athletes fighting in a dangerous sport, spending a few hundred dollars on a fighter is well worth the bill.
In a previous CBS SportsLine article, UFC’s Marc Ratner was quoted as saying that uniformity in drug testing and other athletic commission policies is determined by politics. It shouldn’t be. There should be a provision in the unified rules stating that all fighters on all MMA events be subjected to mandatory pre- and post-fight drug testing for both drugs of abuse and steroids.
2. Educate the fighters.
When it comes to educating fighters about nutrition, drug testing, and overall lifestyle choices, there currently isn’t much of an education process in place for fighters. Ratner wants to change this, and he is in the process of creating fighter symposiums, similar to what major sports leagues such as the NFL and NBA provide to their athletes.
“We’re going to put a symposium together where we talk about everything,” Ratner said. “Financial planning, taxes, drugs, and gambling. We’re going to have a meeting for all fighters that are involved with us.”
“I think it’ll be great for the fighters,” he said. “They’ve never had this. It’s time for us to really be proactive in that regard.”
Fighters face many stressful issues in preparation for a big fight, including weight-cutting. When you bring up weight-cutting, naturally you also have to bring up some of the methods that fighters use to cut that weight. A quick way is through the use of diuretics, which are on the list of banned substances for drug testing. Ratner says that fighters needed to be properly educated about weight-cutting and making weight in a safe manner.
“There’s a whole culture where (it is) 10 days before the fight, and you’re 15 pounds heavy, or 20 pounds heavy, and you lose weight right to the weigh-in, and then put it back on,” Ratner said. “So we’re going to have some doctors and nutritionists talk about that.”
Ratner also supports the idea of offering drug counseling or rehabilitation to UFC fighters, if needed.
3. Instill mandatory drug testing of all fighters in locations with no established drug testing.
Every single fighter should be drug tested by an independent drug lab in events where there is no jurisdiction by an athletic commission. Furthermore, the test results of those independent drug tests should be publicly released to the media. If a fighter fails a test, that failed drug test should be immediately disclosed to the public and the state athletic commissions, barring any legal or medical hurdles. The promotion must also be willing to enforce its own voluntary drug suspension if a fighter fails a drug test.
Also, the benchmarks for the internal drug tests should be publicly revealed by each organization. For example, is the T/E ratio allowed for a UFC internal drug test 4:1 or 6:1? What is on the list of banned substances?
4. Allow no loopholes in the drug testing policy.
When it comes to drug tests administered by the California State Athletic Commission, the process is simple. You either pass or fail your drug test. There is no gray area. If you test positive over a certain benchmark for a drug, you fail. The state’s drug testing of MMA fighters and boxers works. There’s a reason there are more drug-related suspensions in California than any other state. The CSAC drug testing policy has no specific loopholes to allow boxers and MMA fighters to cheat.
Which, unfortunately, cannot be said about drug testing in all sports.
In the last month, the most scrutinized drug testing policy in sports has been World Wrestling Entertainment’s ‘Wellness Policy.’ Congress is now investigating. With the murder-suicide of Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy, and his son Daniel, there has been intense media scrutiny on how Benoit could have passed a WWE drug test in April when anabolic steroids were found at his house.
According to the WWE drug testing policy, any wrestler who has a testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio of 4:1 to 10:1 must be tested further. Any test with a ratio of over 10:1 results in a suspension. The NBA, MLB, NFL, and WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) consider any ratio above 4:1 to be a test failure. The CSAC drug test allows for a T/E ratio below 6:1.
Recently, a toxicology report revealed that Chris Benoit had a T/E ratio of 59:1. The average testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio for a human is 1:1.
So, how did Benoit pass a WWE drug test this past April? Wrestling & MMA writer Bryan Alvarez reported that a wrestler who suffers from low testosterone levels can get testosterone replacement therapy. A few weeks ago, Richard Sandomir in The New York Times wrote, “One element of the WWE’s drug plan allows a wrestler who has damaged his endocrine system by abusing steroids to receive a therapeutic exemption to use steroids for testosterone-replacement therapy.”
Chris Benoit reportedly fell into this category. Dr. David Black, who oversees WWE’s drug testing, is the same doctor who helped create the NFL’s drug testing policy in the 1980s. When asked for comment by The New York Times about the effectiveness of the WWE’s drug-testing program, Black was defensive.
“They’ve damaged their ability to make testosterone, so we have to allow the therapy,” Black said.
Why is this statement intriguing? Black stated to Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes II in 2005 that “Yes, testosterone is the, ah, original base chemical, or the starting chemical for all the anabolic steroids.”
Cooper followed up by asking Black if NFL players are allowed to take testosterone. Black said no. On the night the toxicology report for Chris Benoit was released, WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt argued on CNN Headline News’ Nancy Grace show that testosterone and anabolic steroids were two different things.
Could you imagine a state athletic commission implementing a drug-testing policy in which a boxer or MMA fighter would be allowed to use testosterone replacement therapy because the fighter used steroids, and has a low testosterone level due to the drug abuse? It would be a public relations nightmare, because such a drug policy would have no credibility with the public whatsoever.
Shaun Assael in ESPN The Magazine (June 22, 2005) wrote an article contending that a 4:1 testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio is too high. Imagine what he would think about the WWE’s 10:1 T/E drug-testing ratio. Assael argued that athletes can still triple their testosterone levels without failing a drug test. He pointed out the example of BALCO cream (of “the cream and the clear” fame), which athletes used because it had the right proportion of a T/E ratio to pass a drug test. Assael’s point is that if you can manipulate the epitestosterone level before taking a drug test, you can always pass it.
All athletic commissions should adopt strict drug testing standards. If not the standards set forth by the WADA, then at least use the standards set by the CSAC. Every commission should adopt uniform standards on a drug testing policy.
5. Promoters and athletic commissions should adopt a uniform standard for drug suspensions.
If you get suspended for steroids in California, you are suspended for a year. In Nevada, it’s subjective. Past cases involving fighters such as Kit Cope and Stephan Bonnar have seen subjective suspensions anywhere from seven to nine months long. It’s time for both promoters and commissions to adopt a single standard for suspending fighters who fail drug tests.
Here’s a modest proposal to chew on. First-time offenders should be suspended for one full year and lose 25 percent of their fight purse. Second-time offenders should be suspended for two full years and lose 50 percent of their fight purse. If a fighter fails a drug test for the third time, a fighter should be suspended for life and lose 100 percent of their fight purse.
6. Put some heat on the agents and promoters.
What if an agent has several fighters who get caught cheating? What about event promoters who have at least one or two drug suspensions per event? The numbers add up, and there should be some accountability.
In states with commissions, both promoters and agents have to file paperwork to get licensed. What if those licenses were suspended or revoked due to numerous fighters failing drug tests? I think you would see a much stronger, proactive attitude against doping in the industry if everyone was held accountable.
The question is, how do you implement such a policy and what benchmark do you set for the amount of fighters who fail before agents and promoters face a disciplinary hearing in front of a commission?
Final Conclusion
Ultimately, the issue boils down to one simple question: Should the fans care at all about whether or not MMA has a drug problem?
I believe that the answer is a resounding ‘yes.’
As a long-time professional wrestling writer, I’ve covered so many drug-related tragedies that have taken place in that industry. I have been acquaintances with various wrestlers and have had a couple of personal friends in the industry die at a very early age. When I see stars in MMA like Kevin Randleman struggle to maintain a clean bill of health, it greatly saddens me because I do not want to see the same kind of personal destruction inflicted on MMA fighters as I’ve seen with wrestlers.
The response I’ve received from a couple of currently-active fighters on the issue of drugs is that it’s a personal lifestyle choice that fighters make to use or not use drugs. Nobody is forcing the fighters to take steroids or growth hormone. And why should it be anyone’s business?
I’ve heard that line of reasoning somewhere in the last few weeks. The messengers have been WWE wrestlers on television, desperately trying to defend the business they live for as it faces major pressure to clean up its act. I do not want MMA to face the same wrath that wrestling is facing right now.
What gives me hope is that MMA is still a young sport and there is plenty of room for improvement. If promoters, agents, fighters, and athletic commissions apply themselves to enforcing strict guidelines for both drug testing and educating fighters, everyone will end up a winner.
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