« One nightmarish TV rating for DREAM 7 | Home | Tapout founder’s death has the MMA world stunned »
California State Athletic Commission suspends Ken Shamrock for failing steroids test
By Zach Arnold | March 11, 2009
The drugs he is accused of taking: Norandrosterone, Noretiocholanolone, and Stanozolol. This failed steroids test came after Shamrock faced 370-pound Ross Clifton in Fresno, California last February.
Undoubtedly, the scheduled March 21st fight against Bobby Lashley is up in the air. This fight was going to be a big opportunity for Lashley to possibly get a win against a major name.
Luke Thomas comments:
What is abundantly clear is that what’s happening in Shamrock’s career is no longer punchline worthy. Aside from the farrago of humiliating moments that’s half-lifed whatever polish his name has had, we now have what appears to be evidence that at an age where fighter safety concerns are at their peak Shamrock was potentially jeopardizing his health and breaking the law. The steroid issue is blown grossly out of proportion, but something also tells me if Shamrock is using he is likely doing so without any responsible risk management. What reason can you have for confidence?
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 27 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Tragic. Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock.
Damn! Well, looks like Lashley will probably fight some local yokel scrub. Or Gary Goodridge. You know that fight will happen sooner or later, might as well do it on the upcoming fight card.
You have to be a real nitwit to get popped on a piss test in MMA. What with knowing the date and time of the test and all. Ken has been gassing for a long time. I am shocked he got caught.
Some lab tech in Cali might have just saved Ken’s life
Erm… I guess there isn’t much to say?!
Apparently ken is as dysfunctional as we thought he was, and a whole lot more!
Theres not really anything to say…
As incredibly easy as it is to finally have confirmation of something that’s looked so terribly obvious for years, I have to remind myself that this is the CSAC we’re talking about.
But maybe its Karma for beating up a fat kid?
Looks like Ken Shamrock’s attorney went to the Sean Sherk/Howard Jacobs school of steroid test defense:
““Ken was taking legal over-the-counter products, and based upon our preliminary research, I’m investigating if those products were the result of these findings,” Donohoo told Sherdog.com on Wednesday.”
““Ken is willing to submit to immediate testing in Sacramento to prove his innocence,” said Donohoo.
Has anyone ever failed a steroid test three times in one try before?
Asa Says:
“I have to remind myself that this is the CSAC we’re talking about.”
Are you f%#cking serious?? Right, what a crazy coincidence. The guys that LOOK like they roid, (and in Ken’s case act like it), like Sherk and Shamrock…are also the subject of a VAST conspiracy by the CSAC. Right.
I was looking forward to the Ken-Lashley fight, but this is a let down. What a week for MMA.
“I was looking forward to the Ken-Lashley fight…”
It was going to be a squash. Ken wouldn’t have lasted 45 seconds. A total destruction. Brutal and thorough.
In other words, I was looking forward to it as well.
Much like the US banking system, there needs to be a *complete overhaul* from the NSAC on how they test for performance-enhancing drugs, and what their criteria is.
There are too many over-the-counter supplements that could result in a false positive, and if the NSAC wants to ban some of THOSE substances, fine, but they need to make it abundantly clear – on a public website – which products a fighter can or cannot take.
Having said that, Ken Shamrock looks extremely jacked up, and always has…the other day I saw footage of him cornering Pete Williams when he beat Mark Coleman. Ken looked bigger than most professional bodybuilders!
Shamrock`s WWE days…was he or wasn`t he on the gas
http://urban.hunter.cuny.edu/~olivenci/shamrock2.jpg
Santa..Come on the NSCA, CSAC and really all SAC’s are totally up front about which drugs are illegal. It is NOT the duty of the SAC’s to test every product on the market. It would be unworkable and its not their proper role. If I know, as a fan, that many, many, over the counter supplements contain steroids than I’m sure the fighters do as well.;
As to Ken, well Duh, dudes been juicing for years. Jeff Monson said that pretty much every pro fighter has juiced at some point. I, for one, believe him.
Ha!
How ironic that my anti-spam word for this post is “juiced”, because that’s exactly what Shammy did to himself last October to get out of the Kimbo bout. In what was his last incident of self-humiliation.
Now, we have this latest rep-wrecker & potential career-killer. It’s just ridiculous.
I don’t know is the guy has a REALLY low IQ or if he’s just cursed with terrible, self destructive decision making abilities.
Who knows?
Maybe both.
But, whatever the case, he’s shot himself & his legacy in the foot again.
Hell, I think this time he’s used a large caliber weapon & blown it off at the knee.
Let’s imagine for a moment that Shamrock were able to pull a Frank Mir on Lashley next week & come out of the upset healthy enough to go again this summer.
Maybe ( a HUGE maybe, but … ) Dana gets nostalgic enough to bury the hachet & make Gracie-Shamrock III as an “extra added attraction” to UFC 100. Unlikely? Certainly.
But, it’s the type of opportunity that COULD have come out of it had it happened, but now the opportunity to actually make something of this final stage of his career is shot to hell. And as a result, he’ll be forever tarnished with next to no chance for redemption in one year’s time at age 46.
It is any professional athletes responsibility to know what they put in their bodies. If they accidentally ingest steroids and get caught….too bad…youre guilty of taking steroids.
The point of the commission is not to just punish you for using steroids, its to keep the game fair and protect ALL participants. If someone has taken steroids before a fight (even unknowingly), they have created an unfair advantage. So the argument that they didnt know (a la sherk, etc) is moot because if there were roids in their system, the fight was unfair and ultimately it was their fault. Period.
samscaff is 100% correct
Who are some of the guys who have tested positive that we may have forgotten about?
Didn’t Bas Rutten test positive? Tim Credeur, Bonnar, Thiago Alves, James Irvin, Nathan Marquardt, Leben and on and on…
Samscaff is right under the current standard, but the standard is unjust. Your justification of the rule doesn’t pass the smell test, it is really based on moralizing rather than any sort of unfair advantage. Why else test for all kinds of hard drugs that would actually hurt rather than hinder performance? It’s more an anti-drug crusade than about any sort of concern for participants.
“Who are some of the guys who have tested positive that we may have forgotten about?
Didn’t Bas Rutten test positive? Tim Credeur, Bonnar, Thiago Alves, James Irvin, Nathan Marquardt, Leben and on and on…”
Some people have forgotten about those test failures, some people have not. Whether people forget about Ken Shamrock’s test failure in a few years will depend on a lot of things. Tim Credeur did not test positive because he disclosed before his fight that he had taken ADD medication. All of the other fighters that you listed did test positive for banned substances (Rutten for painkillers, Irvin for painkillers, Alves for diuretics, Marquardt for steroids, Bonnar for steroids, and Leben for steroids).
Thanks, Ivan. I was going by my often-faulty memory.
On a completely unrelated note, can anyone here translate some of this? http://www.fightnews.com/?p=6303
Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer is reporting that Lashley will now face either Hasim Rahman or Don Frye. So is Gary Goodridge busy getting his head kicked in at a kickboxing show on the same date or something? It seems like the likelier choice that is being reported is Hasim Rahman. Stupid fight for Rahman to take in his MMA debut, but great for Lashley. He is basically guaranteed a victory here. With pure competitiveness Don Frye is the best choice, but he’s way past is prime. He is a better opponent for competition reasons than Shamrock as well.
Lashley vs. Frye is stupid. I saw Don get his ass kicked by James Thompson in Japan, while Yuji Shimada stood by and watched…it broke my heart. I traveled all the way to Japan to see my hero Don Frye (not really) and he got his ass kicked by the roidest of the roids.
The point is, Lashley-Frye would be meaningless on all levels,whereas Lashley-Rahman may actually be THE most mainstream-recognizable fight since Lesnar-Couture.
I have an update! Lashley’s (or the fight promoter? I forget) couldn’t come to terms with Rahman, so it looks it will be Lashley vs. Don Frye.
Another update! Don Frye fell through, so the opponent will (more than likely) be…………Jason Guida! Yipee…
Hm, maybe they’re testing for hard drugs because they’re illegal. Gi or not may or may not confer an advantage (particularly if both are using one), but it’s still illegal since it is counter to the regulation. Hard drugs are illegal by statute.
If they were holding the fight on an oil derrick in the middle of the Pacific…no, forget it, it’s not even worth conceiving of a scenario where your complaint would have merit.
How the heck is a fighter supposed to know whether their over-the-counter, legally purchased supplement is tainted with steroids? It’s not like they disclose that information in the ingredients. Do you suggest that fighters either just stop taking supplements cold turkey or take the risk? That is insane. Only a very select few fighters (ie. Joe Calzaghe) don’t take supplements. Fighters need some info from the commission on what supplements are ok to take and what isn’t ok to take.