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« | Home | »

J-ROCK comments on Kazuhiro Nakamura drug suspension

By Zach Arnold | September 27, 2007

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By Zach Arnold

Update: I made an appearance on Fight Network Radio (audio here) on Thursday to discuss the Nakamura situation and how it’s playing out in Japan.

J-ROCK, the management team of Kazuhiro Nakamura, fired back at the California State Athletic Commission in the Japanese press on Thursday. The company released a statement on behalf of Nakamura, denying that he was guilty of using marijuana and that they are appealing the ruling. They want a drug test re-examination and are considering the current ruling a mistake. (In the statement, J-ROCK claims that they talked to Nakamura after the news of the failed drug test came out. Nakamura stated that he had no motive whatsoever for using marijuana and has not used marijuana.)

J-ROCK claims that Nakamura arrived in Los Angeles on 9/18 and basically stayed at the hotel until the day of the show (while practicing and training). After his fight with Ryoto Machida, Nakamura was taken to a local hospital for a CT scan (which revealed some brain bleeding issues). Nakamura flew back to Japan and went to Kitahara hospital in Hachioji, Tokyo and was examined by a Japanese doctor (CT scan and MRI). The results of the Japanese tests were different than the American hospital’s test results (the Japanese testing did not show bleeding in the brain).

Therefore, J-ROCK’s public stance is that there were mistakes with other medical tests and that there must have been a mistake with the CSAC drug test. They do not accept the current findings from the initial CSAC drug test.

Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 31 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

31 Responses to “J-ROCK comments on Kazuhiro Nakamura drug suspension”

  1. schz says:

    i dont know, those japanese doctors also claim that hong man choi is a perfectly normal and average human being. my vote goes to western medicine.

  2. Japan has the best ‘Western’ medicine in the world. It has nothing to do with medicine and everything to do with the concept of shame in Japanese culture.

  3. klown says:

    Let the man smoke in peace.

  4. LR says:

    How can you bust a man who rocks the blue gi and parasol!? Travesty.

  5. Was FEG handed the test results before they got back to the doctor?

  6. cyphron says:

    Anything coming from a Japanese MMA management team has NO credibility. This is damage control for sure. I’ve heard that MJ is big time illegal in Japan.

    Of course, their reasoning that one error in one hospital (lets assume that we believe them) means that there is a systematic problem throughout the medical system is absurd.

  7. mdhan says:

    I agree with cyphron 100%.
    “Damage control” sums it up perfectly.

  8. PizzaChef says:

    I have a question for any MMA expert. Can we link Nakamura’s positive weed test to the possibility that it was HIS idea to come out with giant Donpens in his ring enterance wihle he was at PRIDE?

  9. cyphron says:

    I’m pretty sure that weed makes you retarded, not insane. =)

  10. Brett Jones says:

    I thought Jared Rollins commented on Nakamura’s pot usage. But alas, just a song and dance from a management group.

  11. klown says:

    Updated rankings from MMA Weekly

    http://www.mmaweekly.com/topten.asp

    Note the Light Heavyweight rankings…

  12. sonzai says:

    “Japan has the best ‘Western’ medicine in the world. It has nothing to do with medicine and everything to do with the concept of shame in Japanese culture.”

    Ever been in a Japanese hospital? The health care system is good, and Japanese people run to the doctor with even the slightest of fevers, but their medicine is far from the best. A friend sprained his ankle snowboarding there and what did the doctors do? Put a damn cast on it! Immobilized him for 6 weeks so he was still limping 6 months later. They can be a little behind the west…

    However, this reeks of face-saving ’cause as Zach rightly pointed out, this is akin to an American testing positive for crystal meth. Very bad news for Nakamura and J-ROCK.

  13. MMA Fan says:

    Nakamura stated that he had no motive whatsoever for using marijuana

    Greatest line ever…

  14. schz says:

    Japan has the best ‘Western’ medicine in the world. It has nothing to do with medicine and everything to do with the concept of shame in Japanese culture.

    —————————-

    im 100% sure they have extremely good doctors and hospitals in japan. what im saying is at least in MMA a lot of suspicious things happen regarding medical clearance and testing when japanese doctors get involved.

  15. David says:

    I thought the Japanese were frightened of MJ and did not use it at all so I was really shocked to see that Nakamura-san linked up with Diaz, they don’t look like typical friends.

  16. manos says:

    Contact high, maybe?

  17. […] thanks to FightOpinion.com for the heads […]

  18. […] thanks to FightOpinion.com for the heads […]

  19. klown says:

    Maybe “motive” is a (mis)translation of “intent”, “desire” or “interest” ?

  20. […] Fightopinion har Nakamuras managmentteam J-ROCK för avsikt att överklaga beslutet då de anser att ett fel […]

  21. ColumbiaLou says:

    Matt Hughes handed out Christian Bibles, telling the guys to read it? Is this true? Matt Hughes is in a position of authority on this show, so the contestants probably felt some pressure to do what Matt says. Coaches for this show shouldn’t be handing out ANY religious books.

    Matt Hughes seems to be a member of one the independent, dispensationalist Protestant churches–not followers of traditional Protestant theology, but believers in the theology of John Nelson Darby and C.I. Scofield.

    I would remind everyone that Matt Hughes does not represent historical Christianity, Protestantism, the Roman Catholic church, the Greek Orthodox church, the Russian Orthodox church, etc.

    Why did Zuffa even allow that to happen?

  22. Dru Down says:

    “Why did Zuffa even allow that to happen?”

    Scandals on TV pay the bills.

  23. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    klown,

    That is absolutely hilarious. Rua and Liddell still in the top five? Credibility gone.

  24. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    I’d like to point out that, if I called myself a Christian, which I do not, I would be the kind that disagrees with Darby on all significant doctrinal points aside form substitutional atonement.

    However, IMHO, that invariably leads any thinking person to universal salvation, and most likely to unitarianism, which a lot of fundamentalists regard as a cult (yeah, seriously).

    Thus, I don’t call myself a Christian of any kind, because I think the entire corpus thereof is designed for the express purpose of gathering and controlling power, money, and people. Once you’re able to conceive of a unitarian godhead and universal salvation, the rest of it becomes perfectly clear as yet another sham.

    Ok, I won’t talk about this ANY MORE. I promise.

  25. Ivan Trembow says:

    “Matt Hughes handed out Christian Bibles, telling the guys to read it? Is this true? Matt Hughes is in a position of authority on this show, so the contestants probably felt some pressure to do what Matt says. Coaches for this show shouldn’t be handing out ANY religious books.”

    couldn’t agree with this quote more

  26. Grape Knee High says:

    Is Nakamura really that popular enough for this to be an issue in Japan? I’m just wondering since he is the only Japanese fighter that I’ve seen booed mercilessly by the usually respectful Japanese fans.

    Regarding TUF, so in addition to redneck rage (from the previews, at least), this season features redneck fundamentalism as well? God, am I happy that I haven’t seen an episode yet.

  27. LR says:

    Mac Danzig’s response was priceless, lazily lay around and ignore Matt Hughes.

  28. Preach says:

    Hey, it could’ve been worse. He could’ve handed out the communist manifest, the Q’uran and make Hightower wear a burka….

  29. Zach Arnold says:

    Arashi was basically a nobody when he got busted for pot (it was not exactly as if he was a dealer or anything) and it became national headline news in Japan. The guy was a 41-year old journeyman wrestler! So, yeah, Nakamura, Yoshida’s top protege and PRIDE star, it’s getting play.

  30. […] a press release about its decision to appeal the test. The release was translated by Zack Arnold at FightOpinion.com, an expert on the Japanese fight […]

  31. […] said that he was skeptical about what happened with Barnett’s test result in California given the problems J-ROCK had in California with Kazuhiro Nakamura testing positive for marijuana and what he deemed a lack of transprency with […]

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