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« | Home | »

Wednesday war room: Horse play

By Zach Arnold | August 8, 2007

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The estimable Dave Doyle comments on the CSAC reducing James Toney’s drug suspension from one year to six months in length:

Or maybe they’re sending the worst signal of all: Maybe California’s commissioners are a pack of hypocrites with a glaring double standard. Maybe they’re just paying lip service to the notion of cracking down on drugs and steroids by hanging the little guys out to dry. But if you’re a big-name star, regardless of whether you’re are a boxer or mixed martial artist, it’s OK to use performance-enhancing drugs — animal steroids, no less — because starstruck officials who are supposed to serve the taxpaying public will cover for you and let you off the hook.

Log’s blog has more thoughts on Toney.

Japan’s most popular athlete currently. Don’t laugh.

Calvin Ayre has a response about what Vadim Finkelstein recently said about him.

Onto today’s headlines.

  1. The Houston Chronicle (Steve Sievert): Chuck Liddell to wait his turn for title shot
  2. The Newark Advocate (OH): Newark native Mark Matheny thrives as UFC referee
  3. MMA on Tap: MFC Lucky 13 card
  4. UFC Mania: UFC 77 will feature Marvin Eastman vs. Demian Maia
  5. The Boston Herald: Kenny Florian on a fast track to lightweight title shot
  6. Sherdog: Mark Kerr will be back in action
  7. Jabs ‘n Grabs: Two part interview with Chuck Liddell’s trainer and manager, John Hackleman (part one and part two)
  8. Irish Whip Fighting: Blood feuds make for bitter showdowns
  9. Xtreme Couture: Future stars (they sure recruit kids at earlier ages these days)
  10. MMA Passport: Picking the best MMA writers
  11. MMA Weekly: Updated world MMA rankings (now with featherweights)

Topics: BoDog, Boxing, Canada, Japan, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

14 Responses to “Wednesday war room: Horse play”

  1. Jordan Breen says:

    At least Toney is irrelevent now.

    Mark Matheny is a fantastic referee, and seeing Demian Maia in the UFC should be exciting business.

    Also, on the Billy Blanks shit, y’all missed the most hilariously racist MMA bit ever. Hikaru Sato’s open workout for the media before his bout with Riki Fukuda featured him doing Billy’s Boot Camp aerobics, led by a teammate covered in black body paint. The Japanese slay me sometimes.

  2. Preach says:

    Billy Blanks Boot Camp? Whatever happened to Tae Bo? Does that mean that the infomercials that are playing at night on various european sports channels will suddenly vanish? Nooooo!

    But all joking aside, i wanna know where’s that fountain of youth both he and Bolo Yeung fell in. I mean, come on, the man is 52, and he hasn’t aged a bit since starring in Bloodfist in ’89. And Bolo, man, don’t get me started on Bolo. I recently saw some material from “Blizhniy Boy” (courtesy of my friends over at Gorilla Pictures). Sure, he’s gotten nearly as much wrinkles as Phyllis Diller, but his frame is as impressive as ever – even at 69 years of age he looks like he could mop the floor with 99% of humankind…

    So Mark Kerr is returning – again? He must really need the money. ..

  3. I told some Japanese dude the other day why white folks in the U.S. can’t say the “n’ word, especially around black people. He seemed shocked and insulted.

  4. AS says:

    Dave Meltzer has to be the best MMA journalist hands down right?

  5. He’s the most self-confident and perhaps most arrogant, but not the best.

  6. It’s not surprising that you can get away with a lot of ‘racist’ stuff in Japan because Japan doesn’t have that whole ‘We enslaved black people for several generations’ thing the US has. Therefore they don’t see anything wrong with being black and as a result have no issue making fun of the fact that you’re black. It just doesn’t mean the same thing culturally. Now, it’s a whole different story when it’s racism towards Chinese or Koreans etc….

  7. Or even Russians, for that matter. For being a modern, post-industrial civilization, the Japanese are rather ethnocentric.

  8. Dru Down says:

    Or Thais. When was the last time they televised a full Buakow fight?

  9. Preach says:

    As a german i’ve never encountered any kind of sentiment towards me in Japan, quite the contrary. But then, hey, the japanese love Germany (and it could also have been a factor that i was towering all of them by at least 2 heads 😉 )

  10. Not sure if anyone has seen this yet, but there was a confession in the case of Priscila Belfort’s murder:

    http://www.graciemag.com/?c=144&a=7777

    According to Globo News, this Wednesday, August 8, Elaine Paiva da Silva, 27, confessed to the kidnap and murder of Priscila Belfort, sister of fighter Vitor Belfort, three years after her disappearance.

    Silva said she herself pulled the trigger on Priscila after the leader of the gang expressed displeasure with the lack of negotiations for ransom.

    She further revealed that Priscila’s mortal remains can be found in São Gonçalo, across the Guanabara Bay from Rio de Janeiro, where the fugitives buried her.

    Three others were arrested for involvement in the crime, among them another female.

  11. D.Capitated says:

    It’s not surprising that you can get away with a lot of ‘racist’ stuff in Japan because Japan doesn’t have that whole ‘We enslaved black people for several generations’ thing the US has. Therefore they don’t see anything wrong with being black and as a result have no issue making fun of the fact that you’re black. It just doesn’t mean the same thing culturally.

    Uhhh, is this a serious reply?

  12. Dru Down says:

    MMAspectator- does this mean the “old” Vitor is back?

    Sorry, had to say it. I truly do hope this brings some closure to him and his family. Are there any plans to exhume her body and confirm this confession?

  13. 45 Huddle says:

    It is nice to see MMA Weekly add a Featherweight Division to their rankings. It is also nice to see that the Featherweight Rankings are about as bad as the rest. Consistency is key.

  14. 45 Huddle says:

    Hey Ivan Trembow,

    How does Hioki get ranked above Urijah Faber? The guy is talented, I will say. However, at 145 lbs, his biggest wins are against Mark Hominick. He has no other big wins. And we already know Hominick has been exposed. He has beaten Curran, but that was at 160 lbs, and MMAWeekly has not allowed Sherk’s wins at Welterweight to help his Lightweight Rankings…..

    Makes no sense at all to be honest.

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