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Steroid cheater appointed as judge for Rich Franklin/Chuck Liddell UFC 115 fight
By Zach Arnold | June 8, 2010
Sherdog has the list of judges and officials for this weekend’s UFC 115 event, but one name that sticks out is local fighter Bill Mahood — the same Bill Mahood who failed a drug test for Drostanolone when he lost to Bobby Southworth in 2007.
I already see the ‘defense’ coming on this — he’s a fighter, he’ll know more about what he’s seeing than other judges!
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 21 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Well, dear Author, what of it? It really seems to be an entirely different category of officiation from anything relevant to PED use. Are point-scoring judges called upon to penalize players who seem roided out?
Zach, the defense you see coming is a perfectly rational one. I will take a former fighter who used to dope as a judge over someone who doesn’t actually know the sport. I fail to see how his prior steroid usage makes him less capable of judging who wins a fight, or why he should be denied the opportunity to be a judge in 2010 because he got caught ‘roiding in 2007. If you’re going to infer that that is the case, please elaborate as to why.
I think what you said kind of speaks for itself. And maybe Zach’s message is that cheater’s always prosper, but shouldn’t?
If that’s his message, there are far more egregious examples one could come up with in MMA. Minor fighter gets caught doping, career pretty much fizzles out. He manages to stay involved the sport as an official (is it really that lucrative a gig anyway?). Fighters quite often get second chances to be fighters after doping, so is it really a big deal that this one ended up as a ring official? It’s not like he was appointed to an ethics commission or something.
I’m not a huge Jordan Breen fan but that article is AWESOME and an epic step forward. I love on HBO boxing events how they give a little background of the officials. This is a great asset for us fans.
I can’t see any reason to get mad about this. It’s just like he’ll use a PED to make him a superior judge or would give bias to fighters he knows use or something. I say good on them for hiring fighters instead of boxing judges with the “what’s ground fighting?” ignorance. IMO all judges should be fighters, it’s not like there’s a shortage of guys looking for a pay day.
Who cares about who the officials are. Most people do not care. So I don’t see the point in highlighting them.
As for former fighters being officials…. For every 1 Kenny Florian there are 10 Quinton Jackson’s. Which means I wouldn’t want most former fighters in those roles. But I’m sure if they get the good ones, they can be an asset.
And I don’t really care if he was a former doped. As long as he is a good judge.
Why would Rampage be unable to judge a fight? Are you concerned he’d run into the Octagon to interrupt the fight to warn the fighters he had a dream the devil was going to kill them?
I would have to see if Rampage has the proper attention span to sit there and watch the fight without looking away and without letting his mind drift. The guy seems like a fucking nut to me.
I judge fights now, and I had over a hundred amateur boxing matches and seven pro fights. It’s way different than I had ever imagined. I was in a boxing ring since before I could walk, but actually sitting there judging the fights was quite an experience at first. I’m used to it now, but at first I was way shocked at how strange it was.
“And I don’t really care if he was a former doped [sic]. As long as he is a good judge.”
Yet you’re the first guy to tow the party line on BJM being blacklisted as a referee. I mean – he didn’t break any rules of the sport and he’s the best ref in the biz…
And to people who are upset about this, what do you want? For the guy to be lifetime banned from the sport? This was 3 years ago, it wasn’t an excessive failure like James Irvin’s epic opiate failure, and he even lost the fight it occurred during. So what’s the issue? Is he not allowed to train fighters or referee either? Or is this just faux-outrage for a quickie forced MMA scandal?
The issue, for those who haven’t pinpointed it, is that we have an athletic commission that is basically brand new to the sport and credibility-wise, they need all their ducks in order.
Part of gaining credibility is saying, hey, we have everything in gear in terms of the right judges and… drug testing. Hard to take any regulatory body seriously about drug testing when one of the people they hire for a judge is a drug cheat.
I’m not questioning the man’s ability to judge a fight.
I think Vancouver’s athletic commission has bigger problems than one of the judges they picked being a former doper. Like the fact that if they don’t lower their mindboggling insurance rates, this is probably the last MMA event in Vancouver until a Provincial athletic commission takes over.
The issue, friends, is integrity. I-N-T-E-G-R-I-T-Y. How do people miss the point on this? No one said he wouldn’t be a “good judge” in terms of having the knowledge to score the fights right.
He’s illustrated that he’s not willing to abide by the rules and that he has questionable character (even if it is something that people deem inconsequential like using steroids).
From a purely PR standpoint this isn’t a good start and really why do you want to start letting these people who’ve displayed poor judgement in the past start entrenching themselves in the sport at the judging level.
But that’s an “MMA writer’s issue”: something that gets a post or two that 9 out of 10 site readers couldn’t care less about and is forgotten about in 48 hours. Nobody even really notices who the judges are unless there’s a screwy score. Honestly, you could have a judge panel made up of Charles Manson, Richard Ramirez and Dennis Rader and people wouldn’t even notice. New commission or not.
And I mean no offense, but you’re buddies with Josh Barnett and you’re honestly this sensitive to steroid users continuing employment?
To explain that so it doesn’t look like a cheap shot, what I meant is, for instance, Affliction was a new organization that “needed to have their ducks in order” and shouldn’t have taken a risk on a two-time steroid test failure being put in the main event (which ended up murdering the company) and nobody complained that he did or that fellow drug test flunkee Vitor Belfort was in the semi-main event. Because they paid their debt with fines and suspensions and deserved another chance. So why not give a judge the same chance. Especially since all anybody honestly cares about is that there is a new place to have MMA events if they even notice Vancouver is new at all.
I haven’t talked to him in a couple of years, certainly not recently.
You people who are defending this decision and acting confused as to why anyone would have a problem with this are really baffling…
It is very simple. Would you want a convicted criminal being a judge at your trial?
Would you want a known cheater administering a test?
Its very simple…dont make him a judge.. He is a cheater. Here’s an idea…how bout you get a judge who wasnt caught using steroids and cheating? What a novel idea.
Come on, dude. That’s not just apples and oranges, that’s apples and steaks.
Judges are asked to watch a fight and judge which fighter fought the better fight. What does that possibly have to do with a 3 year old steroid suspension? He isn’t asked to be judging urine test samples.
If you’re that worked up about it you’re forcing yourself to be. If you want to be angry about this because you think it’s bad for an athletic commission to hire him, that’s one thing. But to act like this would hurt the integrity of the fight outcomes like a criminal presiding over criminal court is laughable.
For people acting like it’s so shocking that out of every MMA fighter in the world to judge they chose Mahood, realize he is from British Columbia and judges are usually local. So that greatly narrows down your pool.
To anyone who is against this from the “it’s the principle” perspective, ask you self this:
Who would you rather have judging the fights, Bill Mahood or Cecil Peoples?
Neither. How about this revelatory idea – a knowledgeable judge without questionable integrity!
(I realize his is like wishing for a pot of gold, but still…I find it hard to believe there aren’t other local retired fighters out there that don’t have the ‘checkered’ past).