Mike Schmitz: Matt Mitrione’s streak of success & why he’s managed to make it work
By Zach Arnold | July 6, 2011
By Mike Schmitz
Year in and year out NFL dropouts attempt the leap of faith from the gridiron to the octagon, but none have made that transition as seamlessly as Matt Mitrione. In 2006 the former All-Big-10 defensive lineman and six-year NFL veteran hung up his cleats to study the ins and outs how to fight at the professional level. An injury plagued NFL career as a backup came to a screeching halt after Mitrione struggled through countless foot surgeries and had to call it quits.
But after only two years as an MMA pro, Mitrione’s found his place in the octagon having racked up five victories and four knockouts in only five fights. The 265-pound Meathead is no longer known as ‘the guy from Season 10 of The Ultimate Fighter.’ He’s become much more than ‘the fighter how to fight Kimbo Slice,’ or ‘the NFL injury dropout.’
Mitrione has arrived as a UFC mainstay and the 32-year-old is progressing like a young gun just bursting onto the scene. He fights with poise beyond his experience, and proved that by defeating Christian Morecraft via KO in UFC on Versus 4. He’s confident, charismatic, and most importantly, competitive. Mitrione’s proven himself against the likes of Morecraft, Joey Beltran, Tim Hague, Kimbo Slice and Marcus Jones (former NFL player).
His heavy hands, calm demeanor and undefeated record suggest that he’s ready to ramp up his competition. But is Mitrione really prepared to fight the top MMA pros?
“I want to fight a top guy,” Mitrione recently said on The MMA Hour radio program at MMAFighting.com. “I like and respect Frank Mir. He and I are cool, and I think it would be a really fun fight. (But) I made so many mistakes (against Morecraft). I wonder if anyone else who fights feels the way I do after they fight. If I would have made those mistakes against Cheick Kongo or Frank Mir, I would’ve lost. It makes me wonder what the right step is next. My hands, I can scrap with anybody. Technique wise, ehh …”
Who could Mitrione see in his next fight? Here are five possibilities:
- Cheick Kongo: With both Kongo and Mitrione coming off of impressive wins, UFC fans around the country are thirsting for this matchup. Although it does bring a lot of intrigue, Kongo is still a cut above Meathead. Kongo’s fought 10 more UFC fights than Mitrione and has years of experience on Meathead. Yes it would sell and bring a lot of hype, but it’s not the right fight for Mitrione moving forward.
- Frank Mir: If Kongo is too much for Mitirone to handle, than Mir definitely shouldn’t be his next opponent. After UFC on Versus 4 fighter and analyst Stephan Bonnar said Mitrione should meet Mir in his next fight. But the former UFC champion is head and shoulders above the still raw Mitrione. He’s arguably a top 10 heavyweight, while Mitrione is still wavering between the second and third tier of heavyweight fighters. If Mitrione wins another fight or two, I can see this matchup, but not after only five fights.
- Dave Herman: Pee-Wee appears to be the happy medium for Mitrione. Herman is 21-2 at the professional level, but he’s still new to UFC (only one fight) and is a bit untested. He also has a wrestling background and could give Mitrione trouble on the ground, which is something he really hasn’t seen yet. Mitrione versus Herman is the ideal fight moving forward.
- Stefan Struve: The 6-foot-11 Skyscraper is a definite possibility for Mitrione. He’s more of a second-tier fighter but has also taken on the likes of Junior Dos Santos (TKO loss in 2009). He’s much more tested than Mitrione but fights the same talent level as Mitrione. He defeated Morecraft (KO) at UFC 117 and is coming off of a loss to Travis Browne. Herman still seems ideal, but Struve is a close second.
- Roy Nelson: Big Country has lost two fights in a row, but both came to JDS and Mir by unanimous decision. He defeated Struve by TKO in UFC Fight Night 21 and is in need of a win. He proved he couldn’t hang with Mir and JDS, but would be a good matchup for a surging Mitrione. He’s a few years older than Mitrione and brings power Mitrione hasn’t seen. Although it would be a competitive fight, Mitrione needs someone younger and on the rise rather than a declining Nelson.
Mitrione’s shown more than enough to defeat his most recent opponents, but what needs to happen for him to make the jump into the second tier of heavyweight contenders?
He’s obviously full of power, but if he’s not connecting Meathead is vulnerable. His defense is sub-par and his wrestling is nearly non-existent. He has solid kickboxing skills from learning under Duke Roufus and is quick on his feet for his size, but he needs to learn how to fight on ground and improve his defense to become more complete.
Once Mitrione does that, the next step would be to challenge the likes JDS or Cain Velasquez. At this point of his career, Mitrione isn’t even close. He can hang with almost anyone on his feet due to his heavy hands, but he isn’t as quick as JDS or Velasquez and wouldn’t last long against the top-tier heavyweights.
But regardless of who Mitrione ends up facing in his next fight and where he ranks among heavyweight fighters, it’s clear he’s made his presence felt in not only UFC, but the sport of MMA. Where he started out on The Ultimate Fighter and where he’s at now is a pleasant surprise.
He’s proven that the fighter-to-athlete route can lead to success. Matt Mitrione is no longer a former NFL player who knows how to fight, he’s become a full-fledged MMA fighter with a bright future ahead of him. A slow and steady push will prove to benefit him in the long-term. He has become a star in the UFC and, given the current vacuum of stars in the company (due to injuries, inactivity, too many shows), has positioned himself to take advantage of the current Heavyweight landscape.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 19 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Urijah Faber considers adapting his fight style based on how MMA judges score fights
By Zach Arnold | July 5, 2011
Quotes from an interview he did on Tuesday with Bruce Buffer for Sherdog.
Thoughts on his UFC 132 fight against Dominick Cruz & how the judges scored the fight
“I felt like I won right after the fight, that was my initial feeling. I think that’s because I didn’t really get hurt in the fight and I feel like I hurt him a couple of times. But you can’t really complain about a close fight, you know, it’s up to discretion and although it feels like most people don’t really, most people… don’t really, uhhh… don’t really know what the judges are talking about. I mean, it feels like these days the MMA judges are so off the rocker, like you don’t really know what you’re trying to do out there, you know. It’d be great if we had like some consistency but Dominick fought a good fight, I fought a good fight, I tried to go for the finish, I don’t really think about decisions very much and I think I need to start being a little more cognizant of that, you know.
“I definitely feel like I could have been more of a person that put on the appearance of winning the fight rather than trying to finish the fight and I think that was the difference.”
Will we see match #3 between Mr. Faber & Mr. Cruz?
“I’m almost positive we’re going to have a rematch and I think it needs to happen to find out who’s the boss. I don’t feel like I was threatened at all. I feel like I could have done. He probably feels like he could have done more. I mean, I think it needs to happen. I don’t know if it will happen right away because there are other guys who have earned shots like Demetrious Johnson and Brian Bowles and even Joseph Benavidez who’s been just killing guys. So I’m not like demanding it but I know it’s going to happen. I’m not going to get beat, uh, I’m going to keep coming for that belt and it’s just a matter of time, so whether it’s right away or if I have to win a couple or whatever the case, I’m ready to go again and I think Dana (White), Lorenzo (Fertitta), and everyone else wants that and I think it needs to happen.”
Will Urijah Faber stay at Bantamweight?
“I think so, you know, I’m getting more and more comfortable at the weight. It’s my only third fight at the weight and I’m getting a hold of my weight. The recovery process, knowing how much I’m going to weigh after the weigh-ins, that’s a big part of it, you know, because when I know what I go right back up to, I can kind of stay at that weight for my whole training camp instead of like, you know, breaking my body down and trying to get lower and all that stuff and I feel incredible, man. I’m getting better and better.
“That fight this weekend has motivated me, made me want to get back in the gym and work on some things and I really feel like I got caught up in trying to knock Dominick out because, you know, when you’re in a grudge match like that where there’s animosity and there’s something to prove, it gets down to the most brutal stuff and you want to try to knock the guy out. So, I think I could have been a little bit smarter, especially considering that it did go to the decision and taking that into account. But I don’t want to lose that edge of just trying to go for the kill.”
- Matt Erickson: Tito Ortiz makes $450,000USD at UFC 132, Urijah Faber & Dominick Cruz make $72,000USD combined
Also mentioned in the interview with Bruce Buffer, Urijah says that he is an avid reader of Napoleon Hill. He also asked Bruce if he could record a phone message announcing Urijah as the new UFC Bantamweight champion of the world so that he can listen to the ‘call’ and put it into his mind so he can visualize it to help with his training.
Check out his upcoming charity golf tournament.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 15 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dr. Margaret Goodman: If the UFC & fighters don’t clean up their sport, the US Government will step in
By Zach Arnold | July 4, 2011
When horse racing — yes, horse racing — is held up as an example of a sport that recently has made better changes for drug testing than your industry, that’s saying quite a lot.
A horse is a horse, of course, unless they’re an MMA fighter taking horse drugs like boldenone and clenbuterol. Great for your heart, I hear.
Dr. Margaret Goodman appeared on Eddie Goldman’s radio show last Friday with some interesting remarks about the landscape of MMA’s drug culture and where things might be heading in regards to potential Federal or independent oversight of regulation.
The subject of Nate Marquradt and TRT came up. As you might expect, TRT is now an increasingly popular loophole for fighters to exploit for double-doping: take steroids, damage the endocrine system, get testosterone, go to a commission and get a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE), and off you go. Keith Kizer says Nevada has protocols to weed out the steroid users from non-steroid users in order to qualify for TRT, but color me skeptical.
Should TUEs be allowed in MMA?
“The answer is that, yes, Therapeutic (Use) Exemptions are important, but it’s almost unnecessary for anyone to need that that are top athletes. It just doesn’t make sense, those two things just don’t go together and I think the problem is it’s not a new area for MMA and for boxing and commissions but it’s an area that’s not dealt with on the same level that an organization like WADA deals with it or USADA in the sense that if you’re going to allow TUEs you have to understand when one is appropriate and, you know, it’s just practicing cookbook medicine. You can’t just say, ‘okay, if he’s got a low T level or his testosterone level is between a certain range, then he’s not overusing it.’ You know I was talking to someone that intimately worked with WADA for a number of years and even was on a committee to assess this kind of thing and they only have a handful of doctors that are around the world that they believe are acceptable to really determine if somebody needs a TUE for testosterone or drugs like that. So, if WADA, you know, who you have to say holds this to the highest standard in evaluation can’t find that many doctors that are appropriate in determining whether or not someone really, really needs the TUE, then this has to be handled to a much greater degree in boxing and the MMA.
“And the other issue is that nobody’s dealing with… let’s say that these fighters are given a TUE for it and their levels, let’s say Marquardt’s levels were within a normal range, everyone is forgetting that even though his levels are down all that time when he was using he continues to have a beneficial effect from a Performance Enhancing Drug, so that can last months after stopping usage. So, technically, we’re allowing certain athletes to have PED advantage over their opponent and that is just not right. It’s not fair to the fighter who probably doesn’t need the drug in the first place and it certainly isn’t fair to their opponent. And then, you know, you hate to bring this issue into it but when there’s betting on these fights, besides the most important safety aspect. So, you know, if these kinds of exemptions are going to be allowed which I think almost never should they be allowed as far as PEDs are concerned, then it is important for commissions that are going to say whether or not they’re going to allow this that they have these athletes evaluated in the right manner. To say, okay, we’re going to stop it for 8 weeks and then re-test him and blah blah blah… some of these drugs can be out of somebody’s system very quickly, you know, the half-life of how long a drug stays in your system can be gone very quickly when you do a drug test. But that does not mean that someone is not obtaining the performance-enhancing effects from it.
“Look, if they’re going to play the game, if commissions are going to play the game and grant these TUEs, then they have to go that extra mile to determine when it’s absolutely necessary.”
Shouldn’t opponents of fighters getting TUEs be notified ahead of time and have their own doctors analyze what is going on?
“The dangers (of fighters abusing TUEs) are huge and how fair is that? I mean, that is not fair and why should the opponent have to (deal with) that risk? And, you know, I just think that the issue, this is a great time to sit down and deal with it. Kudos go out to Greg Sirb because, really, he’s the first one that has really stepped up and said, wait a minute, this doesn’t smell right. And, you know, that is fantastic and I think that, you know, yes it’s great that the UFC supported that. I would hope that they would support that more, but the issue is they must have had some knowledge that he was, you know, Nate was using beforehand obviously because of other fights. How long was he given TUEs? And then you have to worry about with some of these organizations and UFC is one of them where they go overseas, where there is no commission overseeing things, so if they’re handling whether or not a fighter gets a TUE, how often does the opponent know that and how are they granting those? You know, I guess the question was Marquardt using it during his fight in Germany and who was overseeing that? So, I mean, and how many other fighters are doing that? And then you deal with all the other PEDs out there, who’s monitoring that or is it just a free-for-all? And, so, unless there’s the light of day brought on it by a commission like Pennsylvania, how often is this skirting by and opponents are dealing with performance-enhanced fighters? It’s just a bad around situation all around and this would be a good time to deal with this.”
- Zach Arnold: The oncoming train wreck in combat sports
Getting a license to fight is a privilege, not a right
“If you’re going to do the drug testing, you do the drug testing to the best of your ability and I believe, I really do believe and I’m not sure about MMA athletes but I do believe there’s many boxers out there that, like Floyd (Mayweather), that maybe don’t want to be the spokesman for this because that’s not their role, but I do believe that they want to prove that they fight clean, they’re willing to step up to the plate and I would hope that there’s other MMA athletes out there that would speak out against this and speak out to the fact that PED use is rampant. And, you know, yes everyone wants to say that MMA is a safer sport on many different levels and, yes, they don’t have the statistics of deaths and those types of injuries, thank goodness, but this kind of problem could end up being their Achilles’ heel if it’s not dealt with appropriately. Because it’s just like I said, if you’re not going to do the testing in the appropriate manner and determine whether or not someone really needs a TUE to the fullest capabilities, then I agree that it shouldn’t be allowed at all because what are we trying to do? Are we trying to make somebody perform at a level they’re not able to medically? Let’s say if Marquardt or another fighter really does have this problem, you know, what about all the harmful effects of giving the young man these drugs? If you have a medical condition that precludes you from competing in MMA or boxing, then you shouldn’t be given drugs to try to make you fit into that role.”
The next big drug focus for MMA – EPO usage & blood doping in general
“What we’re ignoring here is that there’s so many other substances that are used as performance-enhancing agents besides testosterone or anabolic steroids and often athletes use things in combination. So, to say that an athlete is just purely using one single anabolic steroid and not using all this other stuff like EPO for blood doping or all these other things that are out there, I mean you could give a litany of drugs, is silly and that they’re probably using things in combination. And if you look at cycling, which is probably considered the dirtiest sport out there still, they’re using, you know, certain agents in addition to probably using steroids but they’re using things like EPO all the time and I do believe that EPO is very commonly used in MMA and in boxing and that is a drug that definitely will improve your endurance. You know, steroids, anabolic steroids will help them in training considerably besides the actual idea of the power. They will help every single athlete in training, especially in a boxer, an MMA athlete where they’re getting injured all the time. But EPO or blood doping methods are hugely important in giving a performance-enhancing effect to an MMA athlete or a boxer, so you know I think the problem is our testing is inadequate. If we’re going to do the testing, it needs to be the done right way. Yes, nothing is perfect, but the way the situation is and the way commissions is handling it now is just not thoroughly enough. It’s like trying to put lipstick on a pig, unfortunately, and it still is a pig. I hate to use that analogy but it just fits. So, if we’re going to deal with it, let’s deal with it. Otherwise, don’t deal with it at all! Just stop all this. Let everybody fight on whatever they want but I don’t think that’s the mentality that we want, I don’t think that’s fair, I don’t think it’s safe, it tarnishes these great sports and so, yeah, now we got to deal with and I think it’s easy to do but I think it needs to be done in a right way instead of just everybody coming out and saying, ‘we’re doing WADA testing,’ when they’re not doing WADA testing or ‘yes we care about it, we’re teaching our athletes to stay away from steroids’ when they’re looking the other way.”
Why standards need to be stepped up now and independently examined
“Of course, these TUEs are important and have to be used. But the overall drug testing is so inadequate at this point, it needs to go to unannounced drug testing, needs to have more expansive lists of things that are tested for, depending on what is thought to be used in boxing and MMA. The blood counts need to be evaluated in fighters to make sure they’re not blood doping, these needs to be done periodically for EPO to make sure there’s no blood doping. So, there’s a whole host of things that need to be done that aren’t being done and they’re not hard to do and then it wouldn’t take all of this explanation in the media every time somebody is thought to be guilty of using something. We’d be nipping it in the bud in the beginning.
“The bottom line is that this 100% can’t fall on commissions are far as drug testing. This is where we get into a problem. You know, a lot of commissions don’t have the manpower, they don’t have the finances, they don’t have a lot of the things that are needed to conduct appropriate, thorough drug testing and that’s why ultimately this needed to be handed over to other agencies and individuals to do it not only independently but to do it the correct way. So, that’s the bottom line.
“There are athletes that will step up to the plate to volunteer themselves for drug testing. I believe that commissions and this is something that the ABC look should to help promote further education in how drug testing can be performed and be done cost-effectively but has to be in an unannounced, random way. It has to be free of conflicts of interests and it needs to be done now.”
Who will create an independent medical body to oversee drug testing and what’s the incentive?
“I think that its possible to create your own and obviously I’m not really able to talk about it so much right now but I think that this is something that, you know, I’ve been really interested in. I know some other individuals are interested in trying to create an independent organization that will allow athletes to volunteer for testing. You know, it’s different with Olympic sports where, you know, an athlete that knows that they’re eligible to compete in the Olympics has to sign up with WADA or USADA maybe like 18 months in advance and at that point in time and you know we’ve got boxers that have been subjected to that, Olympic boxers that are now professional fighters out there doing well that have been through that probably wouldn’t have a problem with it. But I think there needs to be this groundswell of something like this starting on a case-by-case basis to see that it isn’t that restrictive, that can be done in a cost-effective way and it is the right way and it benefits the athlete to demonstrate to the public that they’re clean and I think it can be done.
“I think it was done in horse racing, it’s being done more in horse racing, it’s started on an individual level and more and more racing commissions are adding unannounced drug testing and expansive drug testing to their protocols. I think that, you know, with MMA being so vocal and being so prominent now as far as the media is concerned it’s going to be a question that they’re going to have to answer or the Government will step in. I know people have lobbyists preventing further Government involved in MMA but the bottom line is the Government is going to be asked to take a look at drug use like it has been asked to take a look at drug use in horse racing recently. They’re going to be asked to do this in MMA and just like I said earlier, this may be end(ing) up (as) MMA’s Achilles’ heel.”
Why fighters, not promoters and commissioners, can create momentum for independent drug testing
“Well, I just think that athletes themselves need to step up like Floyd is doing and obviously Floyd’s in a different position, he fights for big purses… but I think that individual athletes can step up and volunteer for testing.
“So, I think there’s fighters out there and I think it’s just going to start on an individual basis and I think this will help give a better image to boxing. I would hope that MMA athletes would speak up as well because I don’t believe every MMA athlete is dirty, of course, and I think there’s ones out there that are willing to step up and prove that’s the case. Like I said earlier, I don’t think that the commissions as much as you would like it can (handle) the total responsibility because it is an international sport, they don’t have that much contact with the athletes and there’s so much variance between commission and commission as far as the resources that they have to have something like this done. Obviously, everybody wants to throw everything at the promoters and tell them to step up. But I think the athletes themselves, if they ask to have it done, I think it can be done.”
Will promoters dispose of non-main event level fighters who challenge the status quo on drug testing?
“It’s sad. I mean, you know, for the longest time one of the biggest complaints that many people have with horse racing, especially individuals that spend a lot of money owning horses and having horses trained, is that one gets injured and they just throw them away and move onto the next and, you know, you hate to see that type of mentality, you know, if a UFC or MMA fighters of one of these other organizations were to speak out (on drug usage) that, you know, ‘yeah, well, there’s always a lot of other talented ones that will keep their mouth shut.” I would hope that wasn’t the case, but you know, time will prove that.
“I think that it’s great that fans get involved. I try to get involved and I look at the things write and comment on, you know, yea or nay or positive and negative and I think it’s great. But I think that the fans may not realize how much influence they do have and I’m not talking about just not buying a fight or turning something off. But when fans contact commissions, they contact the media, they write, they do all these things, things do happen. So, I would think that the best thing that can be is if people out there that love the sport want the sport to be clean, want it to be a level playing field, that the more that they contact commissions and write in, I believe that more will be done.”
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 31 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC 132 (7/2 MGM Grand Garden): Tito Ortiz shocks everyone, gives Dana White heartburn
By Zach Arnold | July 2, 2011
Dark matches/preliminary fights
- Bantamweights: Jeff Hougland defeated Donny Walker after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Lightweights: Anthony Njokuani defeated Andre Winner after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Middleweights: Aaron Simpson defeated Brad Tavares after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Bantamweights: Brian Bowles defeated Takeya Mizugaki after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Lightweights: Rafael dos Anjos defeated George Sotiropoulos in R1 in 59 seconds by KO.
- Lightweights: Melvin Guillard defeated Shane Roller in R1 in 2’12 by KO.
Main card
- Welterweights: Carlos Condit defeated Dong Hyun Kim in R1 in 2’58 by TKO.
- Light Heavyweights: Tito Ortiz defeated Ryan Bader in R1 in 1’56 with a choke.
- Lightweights: Dennis Siver defeated Matt Wiman after 3R by unanimous decision.
- Welterweights: Chris Leben defeated Wanderlei Silva in R1 in 27 seconds by KO.
- UFC Bantamweight title match: Dominick Cruz defeated Urijah Faber after 5R by unanimous decision.
The fight odds & lines
Tito Ortiz (+400) was given about a 15% chance to win his fight against Ryan Bader. Bader closed as a -550 favorite. Oops. A lot of people who had Bader as part of their parlays got crushed. Tito said that UFC made him take ‘a big pay cut’ in order to get the Bader fight and now he’s going to cash in. The reaction from the crowd for Tito’s first win since 2006 was exactly what you thought it would be.
Inexplicably, Chris Leben was a +140 underdog. I scratched my head when I saw that line. He proceeded to reward those who had faith in him with a fast KO.
Carlos Condit was nearly even money going into his fight against Dong Hyun Kim. Those who had faith in him winning were paid off rather handsomely.
Rafael Dos Anjos at +190 pulled off what, on paper, looks to be an upset over George Sotiropoulos. Dos Anjos is part of the Evolve MMA gym series in both Singapore and Brazil. This is the gym that is recruiting fighters like Shin’ya Aoki.
Anthony Njokuanki (-155) turned to be a steal for gamblers, as he had little trouble dealing with Andre Miller.
Overall, a very solid night for underdogs on what turned out to be a very fun card.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 46 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dana White’s anger at Nate Marquardt is over incompetence, not TRT usage
By Zach Arnold | July 2, 2011
RON KRUCK: “The big news this week, of course, was Nate Marquardt breaking his silence and admitting that Testosterone Replacement Therapy, TRT, was the reason that he was suspended by the Pennsylvania Athletic Commission. Now that you’ve heard his, his, um, admittance of that, Dana, what is your reaction?”
DANA WHITE: “This is a tough one and it’s a tough one for me because the laws in the state of Pennsylvania are you can’t talk about a guy’s medicals and, you know me, you know, I talk about everything, I let it all out there and it is what it is. So, that’s why last week when this was going onI basically what I said is he needs to man up and tell everybody what’s going on and I think the testosterone therapy thing, it’s real, people do do it, what it is is after guys, when you get in your 40s and 50s, men’s testosterone starts to go down so they bump it back up to the levels that they used to be and there’s guy now that are younger doing it for whatever their reasons are and, you know, it gets to the point where… how much are you taking? You know, you’re supposed to take this amount to get to the right levels. Guys are taking too much and, as far as I’m concerned, that’s performance-enhancing. Now you’re cheating.”
RON KRUCK: “This isn’t the first time that we’ve heard about TRT involved with a Mixed Martial Artist. Is it a problem within the sport right now?”
DANA WHITE: “Well, it hasn’t been a problem until the main event, you know, got canceled the other day. But, yeah, I could see where this could start to be a problem and that’s why I want to let all these guys know, this won’t be tolerated. This will not be tolerated and, it’s uh, if you’re going in and you’re going to a reputable doctor and the doctor is watching your levels and making sure you’re taking the right amount, this thing should be a piece of cake. But when you come in and fail your medicals because of testosterone therapy or treatment or whatever the hell you want to call it? That’s a problem, you know, and it’s not going to be tolerated here.”
RON KRUCK: “Is it one of those things where you believe that the athletic commissions need to come up with a universal standard, at this point, that TRT is either a accepted process or not?”
DANA WHITE: “No, I think they have, it has nothing to do with the athletic commission. I think the athletic commissions have come out and said, yeah, we do do this, but you don’t come in over the levels that you’re supposed to be! There’s nothing wrong with somebody doing this testosterone therapy unless you go too high and the commission doesn’t care. If you come in and you’re over the level, you don’t fight, you’re done. You know? And you won’t fight again until your levels come back at a normal range. So, it has nothing to do with the commission, it’s 100% on the fighter and their doctors.”
RON KRUCK: “So, what should Nate Marquardt have done differently, in your opinion?”
DANA WHITE: “Well, Nate Marquardt knew that he had to test and he had to be at a normal level and he failed his medicals, you know? That’s 100% Nate Marquardt and you can sit there and you can say, you know, ‘I didn’t know.’ We’ve heard that before, we’ve heard that from athletes before saying, ‘I didn’t know, I’m not a doctor, I’m not this, that.’ So you’re not going to get involved in your own business, you, yourself, your physical well-being and what’s going on with you that you can come in and, uh… pass your medicals, basically, you know, you’re going to leave that in the hands of somebody else and you’re not going to know everything about it and be on top of it? I don’t buy that. I don’t buy it.”
RON KRUCK: “Now that Nate has come out and said TRT was the reason he was suspended, is there a chance that you might invite him back into the UFC or is he finished?”
DANA WHITE: “No, he’s finished. As far as I’m concerned, you know… He tested positive for steroids the first time when he first got busted. I was there for him, I supported him. So, listen, we make mistakes, you need to get out there, he did all the right things. Then he comes back and pops high, New Jersey puts him on suspension, and then he comes back and doesn’t pass his medicals in Pennsylvania. I mean, you tell me, I mean I know there’s people out there saying that I’m being harsh. Do you think this guy deserves another chance?
“How about Rick Story? Rick Story, a kid who beat Thiago Alves, right? This young, up-and-coming kid Rick Story, beats Thiago Alves, takes a back-to-back fight, jumps right back into the gym, doesn’t take any time off, to fight Nate Marquardt because that’s a big name and that’s somebody he can beat, right? So, Nate Marquardt does this to him, too, and does this the day of the weigh-ins. Now Rick Story’s head’s all messed up, he’s not fighting Nate Marquardt now, the opponent’s been pulled out, he’s got to re-do all of his interviews and shoot the show open again and all this other stuff the day of the weigh-ins? I find it VERY, very hard to feel that much sorrow for Nate Marquardt.”
Later on, Ron Kruck asks the following…
RON KRUCK: “Chael Sonnen, his suspension in California came to an end. Your thoughts on that?”
DANA WHITE: “Should have been ended a month ago, they’re a month late but better late than never. You know, we’ll get him in there and get him fighting.
“And I actually got one for you and this is something nobody asked me this today, but people are saying, ‘Well, what’s the difference between Chael Sonnen and Nate Marquardt, that he’s going to do this to Nate Marquardt…’ Chael Sonnen got busted, paid his due, paid his fines, went through all this other stuff, and… then came back and applied for his license and now has a license. Nate Marquardt did that once and then came back and then got popped again over in New Jersey and had to come back at in the regular levels before he could fight in Pennsylvania and then failed his medicals in Pennsylvania. That’s the difference between Chael Sonnen and Nate Marquardt.”
RON KRUCK: “Great point. When should we expect Sonnen to be back?”
DANA WHITE: “Any time, now, I mean as we soon as we can make a fight for him, we’ll bring him back.”
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A doctor’s skeptical opinion of TRT usage in fighting
By Zach Arnold | July 1, 2011
Dr. Nickolas Tomasic is a urologist at Marina Del Ray hospital.
KENNY RICE: “Let’s get right to the expert here. Why would a guy who’s in his 30s, who is in his athletic prime, and who has two children with one on the way, have a problem with any kind of testosterone, in your expert opinion (and I know you don’t treat him or any other fighter)?”
DR. NICKOLAS TOMASIC: “In my opinion, the incidence of a low testosterone level, hypogonadism condition in a world-class athlete in his early 30s would be quite low. There could be other factors involved, previous exposure to radiation, chemotherapy, testicular injuries, those things would be quite, quite rare, but also possible previous anabolic steroid use could be a factor as well.”
BAS RUTTEN: “That’s what I was going at, the nandrolone he was using five years ago when he got caught for it. Does that have something to do with it, you think?”
DR. NICKOLAS TOMASIC: “Well, there’s no question that repeated, excessive use of anabolic steroids can lead to testicular atrophy and, I can’t say in his case at all, but that is a factor that could be involved.”
KENNY RICE: “Doctor, as far as it would seem with when we talk about steroids, when we talk about any kind of testosterone that you would be taking out there to increase your level, as far as giving an edge to an athlete which is always the presumption, is that true?”
DR. NICKOLAS TOMASIC: “Yes, I do believe that excessive testosterone levels could give a world-class athlete a competitive edge. Muscle-building, conditioning, even the conditioning process prior to a fight, that could be a real competitive edge.”
KENNY RICE: “Do you have a lot of young guys come in that need testosterone to boost it, that are in their 30s?”
DR. NICKOLAS TOMASIC: “It’s rather, rather uncommon.”
After this comment, Matt Mitrione played the role of Meathead to perfection by asking whether or not getting repeated hits to the balls during training would cause low testosterone.
DR. NICKOLAS TOMASIC: “I’d say it would take a rather severe testicular injury, actually rupturing the testicle, something more dramatic than just common bruising that might occur.”
KENNY RICE: “Mark, let me ask you, and again, you know, we don’t pick on (Nate) Marquardt in general, I mean you’ve got Chael Sonnen out there that’s had the same problems, we’ve had Josh Barnett for years, I mean not always identical, we’ve had the legend Royce Gracie that was caught using a substance you’re not supposed to use. As far as what you’ve seen, as a man who promotes & runs an organization as successfully as the MFC, I know there’s been a few times you’ve had to deal with guys like that, is this becoming more prevalent now, OK, we’re not on steroids but our testosterone level’s low or we’re building it up.”
MARK PAVELICH: “Why do we consistently be scared to talk about this out loud? Olympics talk about it out loud, everybody else talks about it out loud, and now we’re sitting here wondering why some guy at 30 years old, listen I’m not a doctor, the doctor’s here, but I would imagine and my guess would be earlier steroid use, that would be my assessment on it. To fluctuate those levels and to do all these kind of weird things that’s happening in our sport now. Listen, either allow it or don’t allow it, I’m not here to judge either way, but it seems like we’re trying to like always kind of be scared to talk about (drug usage), and it’s prevalent in our sport.”
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Opinion: MMA & #UFC in New York: Good for Surety Bond Providers
By Zach Arnold | July 1, 2011
Opinion piece submitted & written by JW Surety.
Sanctioned Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) events are currently illegal in New York. Many people from both political parties are working very hard to change that fact and it has a lot of support, but the bill was repeatedly stalled and eventually killed in the State Assembly without ever coming up for a vote. Sanctioned MMA events being allowed in New York would likely be a boon to the local and state economies and the sureties industry.
Places where sanctioned MMA events are currently held require surety bonds for promoters. For example, in Ohio promoters are required to post two different surety bonds: The $20,000 Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts and Tough Person Promoters Surety Bond and a $2,500 tax bond that guarantees their payment of all taxes. If New York were to allow MMA events you could bet that would bring a whole lot of new money to the surety bond market.
New York would no doubt require bonds similar to those already in place for similar combative sports such as boxing. These bonds would probably be similar to those in states like Ohio, that is to say $20,000. That amount is pretty much the same in most states, although some states go at low as $10,000-$15,000.
For those unaware, surety bonds act as a sort of insurance policy, guaranteeing that services will comply with specific regulations and requirements. So in the case of MMA, a combative sports bond guarantees that fight promoters will act in accordance with all applicable state rules and laws. Surety bonds protect the party requesting the bond financially from failure of the party taking out the bond failing to abide by the guidelines they are required to by law or contract or court decision.
MMA promoters would no doubt bring events to New York, the largest media market in America. New York offers the fledgling sports everything it could want, a bright media spotlight, a huge population with large amounts of disposable income, and giant arenas.
Perhaps I should change that last one to famous arenas. UFC (the largest MMA organization) would love to host a pay-per-view event at Madison Square Garden. It would raise the sport’s profile around the country (and even the world) and gain it headlines announcing it as having truly arrived. It has frequently been referred to as the MMA’s Holy Grail.
Perhaps the craziest part of this entire ordeal is the massive amounts that New York would rake in from tax revenues. The estimated amounts seem to vary wildly, but what is known is that New York plans to tax MMA events 8.5% of gross receipt from ticket sales as opposed to only 3% for boxing. There would also be a much more reasonable 3% tax on gross receipts from broadcasting rights. MMA would be unfairly penalized in this tax code for no reason, but it means that any large MMA event overwhelmingly favors the state.
So, New York would be good for MMA and MMA would be good for New York. What’s the hold up? Well, MMA in New York actually passed the State Senate, but was held up in the State Assembly by Speaker Sheldon Silver who claimed that it didn’t have the support.
However, it actually passed the Assembly Committee on Tourism, Arts, and Sports Development and the Codes Committee. It was then killed by the Ways and Means Committee that excluded the bill from the agenda. The real problem is that in the New York legislature what Silver says goes. So until he either leaves office or gets on board, no MMA bill will likely pass in New York.
With the potential boon to New York’s surety companies and the state’s economy as a whole, it’s time for MMA to be welcomed to New York.
JW Surety Bonds is a family owned agency established in 2003, located just outside of Philadelphia.
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Enthusiastic, mildly interested, neutral, not interested: Rate your motivation for #UFC 132
By Zach Arnold | July 1, 2011
Video interview by Ariel Helwani for MMAFighting.com
ARIEL HELWANI: “Is this sort of the culmination of your career in a sense? Because you’ve always wanted to fight in the UFC. At one time, you were thinking about even running your own promotion. You’ve always felt like you needed that attention or deserved that attention. Now you’re here in the main event, the first ever Bantamweight title fight, the first Bantamweight fight in the main event. All that stuff. Does this feel like this is the culmination of your career?”
URIJAH FABER: “I feel like this, uh, a high point in my career for sure and, like I said, I look forwarded to capitalizing on that and I think that, you know, it’s hard to take back all the high points and be like, oh, this is a new high point, because I’ve had a lot. Being at the top of my division for years now, it’s been 8 years since I’ve started fighting and I’ve been in over 20 title fights, so I didn’t not prepare for those, I took those just as serious. But the way this sport’s evolving and where it’s at now and the understanding and the notoriety and what’s at stake, yeah, this is the biggest.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “How tired are you of thinking and talking about Dominick Cruz?”
URIJAH FABER: “Pretty tired of it, yeah.
“Oh man, I’ve just been having fun with this process. You can tell that by what I’m doing out there. Life isn’t about being bitter, to me, it’s about having fun and it’s going to be fun to have that belt around my waist.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Do you think he’s bitter?”
URIJAH FABER: “Yes.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Is that the root of all this, in your opinion?”
URIJAH FABER: “Um, I’m not really sure, I haven’t quite figured the guy out completely yet but he’s got an interesting combination of a bunch of different stuff that fuels him and, um, being bitter is a little bit of it, yeah.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Do you think when the fight is over, for a lack of a better word, you will squash it?”
URIJAH FABER: “I don’t see why not, but, you know, we’ll see how he reacts to losing, he didn’t do very well the very first time so hopefully he takes it like a man this time.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “How do you expect the fight to play out?”
URIJAH FABER: “I think it’s going to be real competitive and I think I’m going to win and I’m not exactly sure but, uh… I know I’m going to be, you know, posing a threat at all levels.”
Continue reading this article here…
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The big transcript: Nate Marquardt’s interview with Ariel Helwani
By Zach Arnold | June 30, 2011
The following is a transcript of the first 36 minutes of last Tuesday’s interview that Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com conducted with Nate Marquardt and his manager, Lex McMahon. The first 36 minutes of the interview cover all of the pertinent medical issues at stake. You can listen to the full hour-long interview by clicking right here.
If this transcript is used for legal purposes, it is highly recommended that the text of this transcript be double-checked for 100% accuracy. Any minor errors done in this transcript should be alerted to me for correction.
ARIEL HELWANI: “Obviously, like I said, it’s been a very tough stretch for you and I think because we haven’t heard from you, let’s work backwards and let’s ask the question that everyone wants to know right off the top. Why weren’t you medically cleared to fight?”
NATE MARQUARDT: “I was not medically cleared to fight because of the situation that basically I’ve been dealing with since August of last year. Last year, in August, I was feeling sluggish, I was feeling horrible, I was uh my memory had gone out the window, I was irritable, and uh I knew something was wrong, I felt like I was over-training when that wasn’t the case so… I went to my doctor and he ran a bunch of tests and basically, uh, came back and said that I had low testosterone. He recommended for me to go on Hormone Replacement Therapy and, uh, so immediately I took that information and went to the UFC and basically talked with the people there that know about that, that handle that situation, and figured out what was the plan and at that point I went on treatment. I was on treatment all the way through, uh, to the end of the year to the first of this year, uh, you know it was monitored and everything and… so I got the fight with Dan Miller, in New Jersey. We applied for the Therapeutic Use Exemption from New Jersey. They came back and said we’re going to grant you the, we’re going to let you fight this fight, but um… basically we want to make sure that you need this treatment, your doctor submitted some paperwork that seemed incomplete, so we want you to do these tests after the fight, we want you want to go off treatment for 8 weeks, then we want you to take 3 blood tests, then we want an endocrinologist to review those blood tests and basically see if you need to be on treatment. So, you know, I followed all the guidelines that they told me, I went off treatment for 8 weeks, I took the 3 blood tests, uh… I, uh, you know, once the blood tests, one the results came back, the endocrinologist reviewed and wrote out a letter that basically said that, you know, I had low testosterone and that I was a candidate for Hormone Replacement Therapy and, um, and so he recommended me to go back on treatment. At that point, I went back to my doctor and, um, and he decided that I should go back on treatment, obviously, and at this point I was 3 weeks out from my fight that I was supposed to have with Rick Story. 3 weeks out and… so, he basically said that I needed to go on a more aggressive treatment because of the proximity to the fight because it was so close.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Who’s he?”
NATE MARQUARDT: “My doctor.”
LEX MCMAHON: “His primary care physician. He had two doctors that recommended that Nate resume or begin HRT, one was an endocrinologist which he was required to go and see by the New Jersey ACB. The second doctor was his primary care physician who had been involved in the treatment process from the onset, he was the one that initiated it and then once the endocrinologist had recommended it, he supported that recommendation and initiated treatment.”
NATE MARQUARDT: “So, again, three weeks out, um… I got the recommendation. My doctor decided to put me on a new treatment that was more aggressive because it was so close to my fight he said that it wouldn’t get basically it wouldn’t help me, it wouldn’t make me feel better by the time of my fight unless he did a more unless agreement and, uh, so I was on the treatment for two weeks and I took a blood test and, uh, which is normal throughout the treatment you had to take blood tests to make sure you’re within normal ranges and that test came back high and, at that point, my doctor said, well, you need to go off treatment and, uh, you know, let’s hope your down to normal levels by your fight. And, you know, obviously that was, you know, I was pretty much panicked at that point.”
LEX MARQUARDT: “But it’s important to note that as soon as Nate was recommended to come off treatment, he did come off treatment and did not take any subsequent treatment even to this day and that will be important as he kind of lays out the chronology of the levels where they were at a high point and as they decreased up until our most recent announcement when we found last night (for testing).”
NATE MARQUARDT: “So, yeah, I mean, you know… we knew that I had to be within range and, uh, you know, obviously I should have requested a testing earlier, you know, but that’s one of the biggest mistakes I made was not, not, you know, requesting blood tests earlier from my doctor. So, when we took the blood test after two weeks of treatment, it was high, so the week of the fight, uh, I requested several tests. Each test showed that the levels were going down and the last test or not the last test but I took a test on weigh-in day and it was still above the range that the athletic commission was going to let me fight…”
LEX MCMAHON: “But in close proximity and had been trending down significantly throughout the week.”
ARIEL HELWANI: “Okay.”
Continue reading this article here…
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Steve Cofield & Larry Pepe: Is Nate Marquardt telling the truth about his medical interaction with the New Jersey ACB?
By Zach Arnold | June 30, 2011
Audio courtesy of ESPN 1100 Las Vegas & Steve Cofield of Yahoo Sports’ Cagewriter.com. Larry Pepe’s audio show archives can be found here.
This interview took place a few hours after the Tuesday morning/afternoon sit down that Nate Marquardt & his manager Lex McMahon did with Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com.
LARRY PEPE: “I had a couple of issues that raised some flags for me. He’s say he’s been on (TRT) since August of last year, which means he was on it for the (Rousimar) Palhares fight, he was on it for obviously he was going to be on it when he fought Rick Story, on it when he fought Dan Miller in New Jersey, and then he had one other fight before the Miller fight when he fought (Yushin) Okami but that was overseas and they didn’t have a commission. The red flag for me was when he said that he went to New Jersey to fight Dan Miller, presented his paperwork to the commission to get his Therapeutic Use Exemption and they weren’t completely pleased with the paperwork and said that they would let him fight but that after the fight he had to come off for like 8-to-10 weeks, do a series of blood tests, have those tests look at by an endocrinologist and then they would make a determination and that was one red flag for me because it struck me as very odd that a commission get paperwork, feel that it was insufficient, but then let the guy fight anyway. That struck me as very, very strange.
STEVE COFIELD: “Well, that is bizarre, and I don’t believe that for one second and then starts to move me towards Chael Sonnen territory because really what California was mad at Sonnen, uh, you know mad at him about more than anything was the inconsistency with the reporting in saying that he had told Nevada told about it and Keith Kizer and then Kizer came back and said I didn’t know anything about this and that’s why California was angry. The second part of the Marquardt thing that was bizarre to me (on Tuesday) was he claims he was taking a pill form of this TRT for those previous fights, he got off, and then… wait, they’re monitoring something 6 weeks out, 3 weeks out he changes from the pills to a straight injection and he claims the injection may have been the reason that he was over the limit. Why would you switch 3 weeks before a fight?”
LARRY PEPE: “Well, let me clarify a couple of things because this is where it even gets a little stranger. He said that he was taking two different pill forms of medication for what he defined as an off-label use. What that means is that he was prescribed something that was never intended to really have anything to do with testosterone, that’s not what it’s a treatment for and that’s why they call it’s an off-label use, so that’s its own kind of weird category. But he said that these two pills which he took one every other day and one three days a week weren’t actually testosterone, what they are is something that would encourage his body to produce more of its own testosterone. Okay, fine. So he said he was on that coming up to the New Jersey fight. Then he talked about the New Jersey (ACB) telling him that they wanted him to talk nothing for this 8-10 week period afterwards which brought him, Steve, right up to 3 weeks before the fight with Story which he ultimately couldn’t qualify for and that’s when they put the injections in and because the doctor said, you’re not going to get the benefit fast enough in essence if we put you on the pills because I guess that’s a more gentle manipulation and that’s your own testosterone levels so it would take longer for them to come up. So, they put him on the injections which you would think knowing he has a fight coming up you’re going to monitor that extremely closely in terms of your blood levels and he admitted himself that he made a mistake by not monitoring it more closely and letting several weeks go by and that’ when his levels got out of whack and too high.”
STEVE COFIELD: “So, that’s on him, that’s on his doctor. Now as far as the UFC goes… is that a fireable offense? You know, it might be.”
LARRY PEPE: “It might be, you know, here’s the thing… I’m kind on the fence as whether it’s fireable… but it wouldn’t bother me at all if it was, say, a one year suspension, you’re not getting any fights for a year, you’re not going to make any money fighting with us for a year. Indefinite seems like a lot but you have to keep in mind that this was an issue that was within his control, it was an issue he was well aware of for quite some time, he’d be on this since August of last year, and he was the main event at a time let’s not forget that the UFC is in the middle of negotiating and exploring relationships with a number of different networks because their Spike TV deal is coming up. It doesn’t look very good if you’re negotiating with, you know, XXY network that your main event just got blown up in a way that was completely avoidable if the fighter acted more responsibly. It’s one thing if we see an injury, can’t control that, everybody gets that. But in this scenario, it was really all in Nate’s control and Nate didn’t do the right thing and as a result the UFC, while they ended up with what I thought was a great event, they were really left with egg on their faces for all the advertising and promotion they did, the event was called UFC (Live) on Versus 4, Marquardt vs. Story.”
STEVE COFIELD: “There have been other cases where guys have come out and said, hey, I knowingly took steroids. They eventually came back and I’ll give you the worse one… Thiago Silva turned in false urine. So, I mean, see with Marquardt you’re like, all right, was it really malicious or just stupid? And, you know, I can understand, hey, fighters freak out sometimes like Silva, hey, I got to take it, my back, but you made a decision, you KNOWINGLY cheated and then you tried to defraud the system! He’s going to be back.”
LARRY PEPE: “Yeah. I think, here’s the difference and, you know, people can agree with this or not agree with this but I think the differences in those other cases where we see guys test positive, they test positive after the fight, the fight goes on, nothing is hurt from a business standpoint and that testing is in the hands of the commission, not in the hands of the UFC. So, the UFC’s business interest is not hurt per se. In this case? Their business interest is directly hurt because their main event fighter, in a situation that was within his control, did not do what he should have done to protect that event and I think that’s why they got so upset.
“And Steve, I just want to go back to one thing real quick which struck me as really odd as well… doesn’t it strike you as odd that a commission, in this case New Jersey, is going to tell a fighter we don’t want you to take the medical treatment that you supposedly need by your doctor’s advise because we want you to test. I mean, what’s the liability with that? Would you ever tell a diabetic, we don’t want you to take insulin for 8 weeks because we’re not sure you’re diabetic?”
SMOKIN’ DAVE COKIN: “Has there been a response from the New Jersey commission as to that accusation?”
LARRY PEPE: “That’s a great question, Dave, and I haven’t seen anything. I called Nick Lembo twice earlier (Tuesday), I’m sure he’s gotten about a 100 of those phone calls and I’m anxious to talk to him because this whole interaction with New Jersey seems to me to be really like at the crux at this whole issue.”
STEVE COFIELD: “Hey, Larry, I don’t know what will happen, but I just have a sneaky suspicion it’s going to look a lot like (Chael) Sonnen and (Keith) Kizer, you know, where Kizer says, hey, that’s not what went down.”
LARRY PEPE: “Yeah, it wouldn’t surprise me because it really does strike me as odd, Steve. I just… you know, Nick Lembo’s an intelligent guy, I’ve had him on the show, he’s an attorney. Just from a liability standpoint, to tell someone not to take medical treatment that they supposedly, and I say supposedly because we don’t know anything for sure right now, but that they supposedly need? Wow. Like, what if he comes off that treatment and has a heart attack, God forbid, you know? It also strikes me as odd that a commission’s as respected as New Jersey would get that paperwork, define it as insufficient, and say, yeah, you know what, go ahead and get in the cage with Dan Miller and fight that fight and we’ll sort that out afterwards.”
STEVE COFIELD: “Miller has a case! Hey, I want my win bonus!”
LARRY PEPE: “Absolutely, and Miller should file an appeal to get it changed to a no contest this afternoon.”
STEVE COFIELD: “One last thing. Small mention of the way UFC fighters handle their media stuff sometimes. Nate Marquardt talked to one outlet (Tuesday). Now you hear us, he talked to AOL, good show with Ariel Helwani, but his camp said one outlet, that’s it. Huge mistake because a lot of the questions that Larry has asked, that I would ask, that (Kevin) Iole, that ESPN.com, that would get more clarification, you know, would clear things up a little more. I think he’s thrown out a story here that has a lot of unanswered questions and I’m not blaming the interviewer because Ariel, you know, he’s got an hour with it, he got to a lot of the stuff, but there’s, you know, by yourself there’s only so much you can get to. I’m telling you, that is not a good way to handle these things.”
LARRY PEPE: “No, it’s not, and it also speaks to the issue of, you know, it raises that thing in your head like, all right, if you’re really coming clean, you really have a solid story, you really have nothing to hide, why not talk to 5 or 10 outlets? Because no interview is perfect, there’s always going to be a question that I’m going to forget, that you’re going to think of and vice versa, and to me I think it’s a big P.R. mistake. It’s too controlled and why do you have to be controlled if you’re prepared to tell the whole story?”
**
Two great points directly/indirectly brought up in this interview discussion.
a) What is the name of Nate Marquardt’s doctor who prescribed the TRT?
b) Why is there not more media spotlight on Dr. Jeff Davidson, who is UFC’s doctor to the fighters, in relation to this matter given that Marquardt fought Okami in Germany and was supposedly on TRT during that time period?
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Boxing PR: Kimbo Slice to make boxing debut on August 13th for Gary Shaw
By Zach Arnold | June 29, 2011
Press release
LEGENDARY BACKYARD BRAWLER KIMBO SLICE TO MAKE BOXING PRO DEBUT AUGUST 13
Forget the kicking and wrestling, Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson will soon be where he should have been all along… busting heads in a boxing ring.
On Saturday, August 13, legendary street brawler Kimbo Slice will make his long-awaited professional boxing debut in the four-round main event of a Gary Shaw Productions and Tony Holden Promotions boxing extravaganza at Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma.
Slice became the Internet’s first street-certified action hero by smashing down a series of opponents in brutal backyard fist fights. The announcement is good news for fight fans, as he will surely administer a much-needed shot of adrenaline into the American heavyweight scene.
“Kimbo was always meant to be in the ring,” said Jared Shaw, Team Kimbo Promotional Advisor. “He’s one of the hardest punchers in the world and on August 13, his journey to becoming America’s heavyweight begins. The first stop will be Oklahoma in what will become the Kimbo Slice Express.”
Longtime friend and manager, Mike Imber, said that Slice has been training for his debut with his longtime boxing coach Randy Khatami and also spent some time in top-rated contender Alfredo Angulo’s camp, working with trainer Clemente Medina.
“He’s completely focused on his boxing career and excited to showcase his talents inside the squared circle,” continued Shaw. “Kimbo Slice is hungry and when that man wants his bread, he’s scary.”
Slice rose to worldwide prominence via the Internet and viral videos of a series of unlicensed street fights, each of which garnered millions of views. As a mixed martial artist, he competed for the EliteXC and UFC organizations and appeared on CBS, PPV and Showtime Network, going 4-2 against some of the world’s best competition. Slice drew record numbers of viewers to Spike, the Ultimate Fighter and in each of his network and cable bouts.
“Even in his losses, Kimbo brought a level of excitement that few fighters can generate,” said his promoter, Gary Shaw. “He is a genuine personality with unbelievable strength and character and we’re excited about his prospects in boxing. The minute he steps in the ring, he’ll be one of the most recognizable and talked-about fighters in the sport and his fans around the world will once again feel the excitement.”
“Kimbo’s been waiting for this and now it’s time,” added Imber.
Opponents and other matches on the card will be announced shortly. Tickets for the professional boxing debut of Kimbo Slice are priced at $38, $48 and $68 and will be available July 5 through www.buffalorun.com.
Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Keith Kizer: PA/NJ ACs & UFC ‘stood up in favor of a clean sport’ w/ Nate Marquardt
By Zach Arnold | June 29, 2011
MIKE STRAKA: “You obviously know what happened with Nate Marquardt today and it’s sort of reminiscent to what happened with Chael Sonnen last year, you know, everybody says they’ve disclosed it, they’re trying to do the right thing when it comes to Testosterone Replacement Therapy but, you know, from your perspective what is going on with these athletes and who are these doctors that are recommending this TRT and how can we educate both the fighters and the viewers as to what’s going on?”
KEITH KIZER: “Well, first off, there may be legitimate reasons why athletes need TRT or other forms of therapeutic use of, otherwise, prohibited substances and because of that that’s why there’s procedures in place, be it at the Olympic level, be it at the state commission level, be it in private leagues that they have this. It’s very important. You don’t want an athlete to have to choose between getting better, getting well, and competing. If in fact you do both without putting either himself at unfair risk or putting his opponent at unfair advantage.”
- Sherdog: What happened in New Jersey with Nate Marquardt & TRT?
- MMA Junkie: Nick Lembo’s explanation of process for Nate Marquardt’s medical testing in New Jersey
MIKE STRAKA: “Got it. Now, with Nate Marquardt’s issue and I don’t know if you know the full story…”
KEITH KIZER: “I don’t. I don’t know much about that case, I can only talk generally.”
MIKE STRAKA: “Essentially, he disclosed to Pennsylvania that he was on TRT. He actually disclosed to New Jersey, New Jersey let him fight but with the condition that he gets re-tested, he goes off the TRT, gets re-tested, and then gets re-evaluated by a doctor, a specialist who then would determine whether he needed to be on TRT or not. And what transpired was he never went to a specialist and Pennsylvania never recognized his doctor as being somebody who could prescribe TRT in his case. So, with that and I may be getting a little bit of that wrong but that’s pretty much the gist of it and with that he was not medically cleared to fight on (Sunday) fight. Now, have you been… disclosed to by fighters, I don’t care about their names, but I mean is it a regularity where people say, ‘OK, Mr. Kizer, I am on TRT, here’s my paperwork, here’s my doctors, here’s my diagnosis?'”
- Dave Meltzer: A focus on long-term steroid usage creating lower testosterone levels (Marquardt failed previous 2005 steroid test)
- Jamie Penick (MMA Torch): Until widespread acceptance of PEDs, commissions should not allow fighters to use TRT
KEITH KIZER: “Well, it’s actually not just TRT, there could be several different drugs where you’d want a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) and in those situations, though testosterone may be the most common of those, the process is always the same. It’s very rare, maybe a couple times a year when we have this situation and what we require is we need proof of the medical illness and deficiencies, we need from their doctor the test that proved it, we need the treatment plan from their doctor and a certification from their doctor that use of this treatment plan will not put my patient at undue harm or no it will give him an unfair advantage over his opponent. Just because you get an exemption to use a certain drug doesn’t mean you could super doses of it, for example, of testosterone. So, therefore, if you did get a TUE but then you violated the exemption by super dosing, the exemption goes away and you could be subject to discipline. So, it’s very important.
“What we do in Nevada, I’m sure they do in other states as well, is once we get all that information, you know, test results, let’s use testosterone for the example here. Test results showing the athlete is truly low in testosterone, they just can’t be the low end of normal, it has to be low. Then also something from the doctor saying here’s the treatment plan for this athlete, if he follows that treatment plan he will neither be at undue risk nor at an unfair advantage in his competition if he follows that plan and doesn’t super dose. We go a little bit further, we also require the athlete to give us something under oath, penalty of perjury, that he’s never failed a drug test before and that he’s never ever taken PEDs before because, for example, under WADA as well as Nevada Athletic Commission, if you’re deficient in testosterone because you previously used performance-enhancing drugs, you cannot get a TUE because you did it to yourself, self-inflicted injury. So, but if the athlete did be able to complete all those things, we have all the information from his doctor showing that it’s a legitimate medical need, it’s a legitimate medical treatment, it won’t put him in harm’s way nor will it give him an unfair advantage over his opponent and our doctor calls that doctor and clarifies all that stuff and we get the affidavit and there’s no other evidence that perhaps there was some prior PED usage, the person would be able to get a TUE along the guidelines set forth by our doctor and his doctor. Again, you cannot super dose.
“There’s also something that’s checked on, it’s the LH (Luteinizing hormone/lutropin) and FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone) levels that are checked at the same time as the testosterone levels and those two levels have to be normal or better and again the testosterone level has to be low in order to really qualify automatically or that’s not the right word but to qualify normally for such an exemption. Those are the levels that they check. If your LH & FSH levels are low that does indicate that it could be from prior steroids. If those levels are normal or high, odds are really, really, really good that it wasn’t due to prior PED usage because I guess those are the levels that go down due to steroid usage in the past. So, you know, if I get an athlete that the doctors know has explained all that sufficiently, our doctor checks it out and he’s happy with it, the blood tests a low T/E but a normal-to-high LH & FSH and I get the affidavit from the athlete and there’s no other evidence that the athlete used PEDs in the past, they have a very good chance of getting a TUE, they should get a TUE in a case like that and, again, they don’t have to choose between leading a healthy life and leading a life as a professional athlete nor should they. On the other hand, if they’re not entitled a TUE, they don’t meet the burden, then they have two choices — take the drugs and don’t compete or compete but don’t take the drugs. But again, hopefully there’s a situation in legitimate case where the athlete can do because there’s no harm, no foul.”
MIKE STRAKA: “Now, I know that you’re not a doctor, but I mean does testosterone really give somebody an advantage over an opponent?”
KEITH KIZER: “Yes, it could, it could, depending on the usage of it, it definitely could.”
MIKE STRAKA: “I see. Obviously, there are cases where people, as you just described, they do get exempted. In the case of Chael Sonnen, for instance, in California that was, I mean, he did mention that you had cleared him, you adamantly denied that and he came back and apologized and now he’s said that, you know, you didn’t quite say that. We all know that story. What is your feeling on Chael? Is it possible that he’s going to be able to come back in time?”
KEITH KIZER: “Uh, Chael, as far as I know, is still under suspension by the California commission I think until (Wednesday). What he does after that, I don’t know.”
MIKE STRAKA: “Right. Well, interesting, very interesting. I mean, is there anything, I mean, UFC holds their fighter summits, Mr. Kizer, and they do a good job at teaching these guys what they can say to the media and how they should carry themselves outside of the Octagon and Twittering and all that stuff and I’m quite certain they do these kinds of seminars where they talk about PEDs but is there… you know with such a high-profile firing of one of the greatest fighters in that division, in the Welterweight division, Nate Marquardt, do you think there’s going to come a time where they’re going to have to really educate these guys on PEDs and what they can & cannot do and do they need to bring in somebody like you to help them out?”
KEITH KIZER: “I think the seminars they give, their fighter summit they give every year to all their athletes, I think they do a very good job of that already and not to mention that any pro-athlete can easily get their information or his trainer can or his manager can with about 10 minutes on the Internet, if that much time, so it really leads to the cliché that ‘ignorance is no excuse.’ There’s a reason it’s a cliché because it’s true. So, I don’t know if there’s any additional burden you need to put on the promoter but when you do see something like this where the Pennsylvania commission, the New Jersey commission, and the UFC stood up in favor of a clean sport, it’s a good day for everybody except for those athletes who are trying to sneak one over us on all. So, I have great praise to Nick Lembo in New Jersey, Greg Sirb in Pennsylvania, and Dana White & the UFC in how they handled this case. So, that’s good, and maybe it’s a new day for uh the UFC on that. I know when they do The Ultimate Fighter TV show the fighters who pass the tryouts on the skill level and experience level, they do drug test them and if they fail that they don’t get on the show so they’ve done a lot in the past, you know some people might say they’ve been inconsistent in that matter but nonetheless any little bit helps and, again, I give them great praise for how they handled the situation this weekend as I do the New Jersey Athletic Control Board and the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission.”
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UFC takes a hit in the ratings while Nate Marquardt elaborates on TRT usage
By Zach Arnold | June 28, 2011
On a day where a Spike TV replay of a Nate Marquardt fight beat the ratings that UFC Live 4 on Versus drew, Nate Marquardt appeared with his manager Lex McMahon on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani (in studio) to discuss the reason he was fired from the UFC last weekend.
The issue revolves around Testosterone Replacement Therapy. He was not cleared to fight because of a hormone replacement therapy situation. The idea, in theory, is that one’s endocrine system is damaged to where the normal 1:1 Testosterone-to-Epitestosterone ratios are not reach and that TRT is, in theory, used to regain that 1:1 level. However, as Dr. David Black (who is/was involved in the NFL/WWE drug testing programs) once stated on 60 Minutes, ‘testosterone is the base chemical for steroids.’
While every individual has their own particular medical reasons for using TRT, TRT is most often associated (in sports) for those who have damaged their endocrine system due to previous steroid usage or from damage caused by something such as weight cutting.
Heavy reports that Marquardt failed to provide the necessary paperwork that the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission wanted before approving the usage of HRT/TRT.
Marquardt story in short: approved for hormone replacement, didn’t keep his T:E ratio in order, warned to do so, wasn’t cleared to fight.
Nate Marquardt just gave the first full, honest explanation of his positive test after the Salaverry test. A very, very pleasant surprise.
So our options are Marquardt’s a dummy, Marquardt’s doctor is a dummy or they’re both dummies.
People acting like this seems legit know absolutely nothing, not a damn thing, about how TRT works in the hands of a proper endocrinologist.
Oh, it absolutely is Marquardt’s job to ensure he meets all licensing requirements. It’s his job and his job alone.
I’m amazed that Marquardt finally FINALLY came clean on his 2005 positive test. Maybe it’ll take another six years to clear up the new mess.
I hope folks realize how beyond incompetent your endocrinologist has to be to mess up your T:E ratio.
There are gaping holes in Marquardt’s story, but at least he and Lex McMahon are prepared to handle this story in a professional manner. HRT/TRT is beyond rare in young people. World-class athletes with 12 years of training camps behind them? Hahahahaha.
Can’t wait until someone finds out who Marquardt’s doctor is. I suspect there’s a reason why the doctor has yet to be named. Marquardt’s basically saying his doctor’s solution to the T:E ratio problem was to give it the old college try. What a pro. Marquardt’s doctor was using treatment protocols not accepted by the USADA. Where’s my smoking gun of quackery?
Either legalize everything or ban everything. I’m sick of the loopholes, the half-truths and quack doctors infecting MMA.
My question is why would Marquardt be allowed to fight in NJ if his levels were high and why wasn’t Dan Miller notified? Nate still looks bad but NJSACB looks even worse. If Nate is right about this how can you let someone fight with elevated levels of test?
Marquardt said he was on therapy when he fought in NJ. They required more tests from him, which he passed.
His testosterone level was too high on Saturday. He says PA commission told him that now he will be clear to fight, levels are normal now.
Marquardt said he took over the counter andro for several years until 2005, and wonders if this led to his low testosterone production.
While I, personally, couldn’t care less if everyone in sports is on something like TRT or steroids or whatever, this is a disaster.
And, just like Nate and his camp wanted, Helwani builds him up by saying he’s “facing the music.”
Questions to be asked & answered
- Why did Dana White fire Nate Marquardt over TRT usage and Chael Sonnen still is under contract? (I’ll leave that for you to answer.)
- TRT usage by MMA fighters is akin to what big corporations do when they stash cash offshore to avoid taxation, it’s one giant loophole that exposes the drug testing programs used by various athletic commissions. If testosterone is the base chemical of steroids and yet ‘normal’ steroid usage isn’t allowed by commissions, then why should TRT ever be allowed by the commissions for guys who are athletically at a high level?
- Why do athletic commissions allow TRT to happen but suspend fighters for using marijuana?
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 27 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |