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MMA-GAF |OT5| Father Time Is Undefeated

S

strobogo

Banned
dream said:
What a superb quote.
Click to expand...

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I

iddqd

Member
I'm going to watch Metamoris with clenched fists then.

Oh here, if you want to see what else is Ralek is doing with his time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBYmZsUjSFE

"Dorothy tried to get back to Kansas
Then I grabbed her arm and I wrapped a bandage
He feet are start’n to hurt so I had to manage
Threw her up high till she hit the fan, kid"
 
dream

dream

Member
WWE seems to have the most long-term booking outside of WrestleMania plans in a number of years, as the storylines have been slowed down and the top matches for SummerSlam are planned.

At this point, the big four SummerSlam matches are new WWE champion John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton, Stephanie McMahon vs. Brie Bella (presumably with Brie Bella having to win to get her job back) and Chris Jericho vs. Bray Wyatt. The lineup was first reported on by the SEScoops web site, and we were able to independently confirm those as the top four scheduled matches for 8/17 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Daniel Bryan vs. Kane, possibly in a Buried Alive match, was on the original schedule, but that’s looking unlikely.

During the Money in the Bank pre-game show, Bryan came out and noted that the strength in one of his arms has not returned. He looked a lot smaller, like he hasn’t been able to push weights yet. He said he didn’t know when he would be returning, and that he may need a second operation. It was known that he was not recovering, and may have even been getting worse, after the surgery, which was a bad sign. It would be the ultimate cruel irony that the guy who defied odds and whose real-life story of success is one of the most amazing pro wrestling stories in years, finds his future stalled just as he took the brass ring. Bryan vs. Lesnar was the original SummerSlam main event for the title. The beginning of the major Reigns singles push came when Bryan went down although he was always the hand-picked replacement for Cena. But all plans with Bryan for now are on hold.

Cena won his 15th world title at Money in the Bank on 6/29 in Boston. The company has never really pushed his numbers that hard, but when won and the number was pushed in commentary, Michael Cole went off the air with the line that Cena may be the greatest champion in history. In the mythical pro wrestling records, Cena is now one short of Ric Flair’s 16. It was always thought that HHH would break that record, as in his last title win, the number was pushed hard. But he’s moved out of that position of being the guy who would be record-setting world champion to Head of Talent Relations, so he’s not going to be the guy who does it.

Cena, on the other hand, if the Reigns push goes as expected, will be in the old Bruno Sammartino role as champion emeritus likely by this time next year, the generation’s all-time legend who is still around as the 1-A babyface, but at 37, with the way they switch belts (although they are slowing down and taking a more traditional and prestigious approach to the title), he’s probably going to get two more reigns. Where Bryan fits in when he returns probably depends entirely on the crowd reaction when he returns. If it’s not there at peak levels, it will be easy for them to figure based on his look and size, that he, like Dean Ambrose, will always be a strong face because true talent will stay at that level, but it won’t be top guy level. If the people react big to his comeback, the company will listen to the audience, usually, at least to a degree.

The Cena win had been planned ever since they knew that Bryan was not going to be able to return for Money in the Bank and they didn’t want to go any longer without a champion. While Reigns became the “hot” babyface in Bryan’s absence, it made no sense to rush the title on him. With Lesnar plans for the title match, it really would have come down to Cena or doing a Bray Wyatt babyface turn. You could have argued for either one, which is a tribute to how much potential Wyatt appears to have as a face. But Wyatt wasn’t considered.

What was interesting was the last few days before the show. The SummerSlam video box, with Cena and Lesnar the only two focused on, got out a few days before Money in the Bank. At first WWE tried to recall it, but in this day and age, that’s impossible. Then, before the show, WWE sent out an e-mail blast for Money in the Bank which also pushed SummerSlam with the same Cena and Lesnar photo. I thought them going out and releasing that as the match on their own two days before the PPV had to be a swerve, but it wasn’t.

There was a risk is Cena winning when the crowd wanted Reigns to win. But the “Batista backlash,” which he was certainly booed at times in the match itself, didn’t happen. The storyline, which stemmed from Seth Rollins winning the first MITB match due to help from Kane, was that Kane was also helping Orton win. As people saw it unfold and believed to be happening, when Cena foiled The Authority’s plan and won the title, the crowd cheered Cena just fine. Some were upset with Cena winning, but he was the best of the available alternatives for that night. Plus, the belief internally is that the people who boo Cena the loudest are the ones who are so invested they are watching and buying at greater numbers than any other group.

Reigns and HHH had a staredown to end Raw the next day, and it had been thought Reigns vs. HHH would be at SummerSlam. The match should happen as part of Reigns’ elevation to WrestleMania, and you can argue September or October would be a better time table.

Going from there, most talk seems to be that Lesnar will take the title from Cena and build to a Lesnar vs. Reigns match at WrestleMania, which would be the coronation of Reigns as the new top babyface in the company. A lot can happen and we don’t have any confirmation Lesnar is taking the title, only that SummerSlam is big, but that Night of Champions on 9/21 in Nashville has to be built up as equally big. The people who ordered the network in its first three weeks subscriptions run out before the 9/21 show. It is the PPVs that are the main driver of subscriptions. As noted before, going forward the most logical schedule is to have the big three events be Royal Rumble in January because it’s tradition, WrestleMania in early April, and a big event in mid-October when the people who sign up specifically for Mania will be running out. But this year, 74 percent of the first batch of subscribers will expire during the month of September.

Past the fact Lesnar will be at Night of Champions, nothing is known about Lesnar’s schedule past that it’s logical he would work Royal Rumble and WrestleMania. The question regards would they put the title on a guy who won’t be working house shows for a period from August through April? There’s also the question of what to do regarding Rollins and the cash-in. They do have the storyline in place where Dean Ambrose can cost him it, but since he already did that once on TV before the match started, a scenario likely to play out several times, that doesn’t feel like the end game. Reigns winning from Lesnar would at this point feel like a bigger moment than winning from Rollins, but a lot can happen between now and the end of the year, when the Mania battle plan will be fully decided.

They did set a precedent with Rock in 2013, but that was late January through early April. Lesnar has been working under a deal of three PPVs a year and about a dozen TV shows, but all deals are open to renegotiation. Even Rock worked Elimination Chamber during the period he was champion and it’s clear they don’t want to have PPVs without the champion on them.

With Bryan out indefinitely, that may have played a role in bringing back Jericho, to work a program with Wyatt. Jericho and WWE had remained on good terms from his last departure. They were in talks about returning for Mania season, but it didn’t happen because Jericho didn’t want to come back unless he felt the creative was in place. The last time he was in, he came back to build to a program where he’d turn heel and elevate Ryback at Mania, a deal made when Ryback, who had been super hot, was slightly cooling off after losing the Hell in a Cell match with C.M. Punk. While people will point to his limitations, Ryback was as hot or hotter than Reigns is today at that time, and one of the very few wrestlers in the last few years who made a big difference in a PPV number in his first title challenge (of course that was predicated on his winning, because when he got screwed, he never swelled numbers like that again). But the decision was made to turn Ryback heel before Mania, and program Jericho with Fandango. The Mania finish, with Fandango going over, was the only thing that made sense at that moment with Fandango on the rise and Jericho leaving. But today, using hindsight, it seems rather stupid, especially since the Fandango push was given up on so quickly after.

Talks for Jericho to return had been going on, on-and-off, since that time. They apparently heated up about a month ago, which probably coincides with the bad news on Bryan’s recovery and the company feeling they had a top slot open. The deal wasn’t fully agreed to and completed until 6/27, the point at which Vince McMahon green lit the Wyatt program. Like usual, Jericho has committed for a certain length of time. “Fozzy,” Jericho’s other main project, had only three dates on the calendar for the next several months and has no announced listed future touring. It’s also notable signing Jericho, who has always been paid at the top tier level when it comes to downside guarantee, at a time when the company is doing extensive budget cutting. Jericho will be working house shows on a similar schedule as in his past returns. He’s been added next week to the Japan tour.

Also returning on Raw was A.J. Lee, two weeks after her wedding to C.M. Punk. With the wedding planned, she took more time off than originally scheduled, as she was originally to be back about five weeks ago. She won the Divas title from Paige on Raw in a double-turn segment.

Bad News Barrett, who suffered a separated shoulder at the 6/24 Smackdown tapings in Pittsburgh, underwent shoulder surgery on 7/2 under Dr. Jeff Dugas in Birmingham. The major surgery involved a ligament reconstruction as well as a distal clavicle resection, where the end of the collar bone is shaved off, according to Dr. Chris Amann of the WWE’s medical staff. He’ll be out of action for several months.

The decision was made to put the IC title that Barrett held up in a Battle Royal on the 7/20 Battleground PPV from Tampa. Wrestlers in the Battle Royal thus far are Cesaro, Dolph Ziggler, Curtis Axel, Ryback, Big E, Rob Van Dam, Alberto Del Rio, Bo Dallas, Great Khali, Kofi Kingston and a character played by Damien Sandow. At this point Cesaro appears to be the favorite since he’s the one regularly losing, getting pinned by Kingston on Raw, by Ziggler in a six-man on Main Event, and also got the worst of it in a brawl with Big E on Smackdown. Cesaro is still, along with Wyatt and Reigns, one of the three people the company is earmarking for top spots by WrestleMania, so the losses here aren’t supposed to move him down. But one of the reasons the IC title went to Barrett and not Cesaro, is because the booking of IC and U.S. champions has been so bad that almost everyone, including Cesaro and even Sheamus, ended up less over after a long run with a secondary belt than before they had the run. Barrett looked to be the exception to the rule.

Given that they just had a TV Battle Royal two weeks ago, and a high-profile Andre the Giant Battle Royal at Mania, it just feels too soon for another. They did have a tournament recently for the IC title top contender and it’s certainly the wrong time for a ladder match.

The announced Battleground main event is a Fatal Four Way for the WWE title with Cena defending against Reigns, Orton and Kane. They did an angle on Smackdown where Reigns was told if he interfered in the Orton vs. Ambrose main event, that he’d be out of the four-way. He didn’t interfere in the match, but did do a run-in to make a post-match save.

It doesn’t make sense that HHH would put Reigns in the four-way. The whole idea was that they didn’t want him in the ladder match, badly, but he swerved his way in. He was responsible for Stephanie getting sick, and is the No. 1 storyline enemy of HHH. So them putting him in a title match the next month seems to make no sense. Also, the story would be better if he’s deprived of any title opportunities and the only way he can get one is winning the Rumble, as opposed to him being in several multi-person title matches before Mania and never winning. I guess we’ll see how that turns out.

Ambrose vs. Rollins is also on the Battleground schedule.

Other programs started include the continuation of Usos vs. Luke Harper & Erick Rowan, with Harper pinning Jey on Raw in a trios match it would indicate another tag title match is imminent; Jericho vs. Wyatt; Rusev vs. Jack Swagger and A.J. vs. Paige in the Divas title match.




**************************************************************
Tenille “Emma” Dashwood, 25, who lives in Winter Park, FL (the town where Full Sail University, where NXT is taped, is located) was arrested in a strange and highly embarrassing situation, charged with shoplifting a $21.14 iPad case from a Walmart in Hartford the afternoon of the 6/30 Raw.

Dashwood was arrested at 1 p.m. at the Walmart on 495 Flatbush Avenue and charged sixth degree larceny, a Class C misdemeanor, which is a theft of something valued at less than $250. She was released at 2:13 p.m. and returned to the XL Center in Hartford.

The maximum penalty is a $500 fine and three months in prison, but she is not in any danger at all of serving time on a first offense and her lawyer, Hubert Santos, said she was sentenced to a few hours of community service when she appeared in court the next day. She was told that upon completion of the community service and also completion of an on-line course that the charges will be dropped and she will have no record.

Santos claimed that she was using a self checkout machine and bought about $30 worth of items and simply forgot to scan in the iPad case.

They were preparing and shooting the backstage segment with Marella, Rose and the Rose buds starting at 3 p.m. Emma had already practiced doing the backward fall into the Rosebuds’ arms in the skit at least six times.

At about 4 p.m., producer Brian James (Road Dogg) came into the room and told her, “You have to leave,” and they shot the segment without her.

On television, Santino Marella acknowledged it as he was alone at the party with nothing but his cobra, and said he sent out invitations and even Emma didn’t come to his party.

However, Dashwood was brought to a meet and greet with sponsors with several other performers in a luxury suite before Raw started, and she was still backstage at Raw hanging out during the show. Much of the talent had no idea of the story or why she was pulled from the segment. When the story got out regarding her explanation of simply forgetting to pay, the reaction we were told is that most were believing her story, just because nobody could understand the story when it first broke about why someone would shoplift something like that when she’s earning a good income on the main roster.

WWE’s statement after news of the arrest broke was, “WWE is aware that Tenille Dashwood (WWE Diva Emma) was arrested for shoplifting. Ms. Dashwood is ultimately responsible for her personal actions.”

WWE had not taken any action at press time. WWE arrests for far more severe charges, such as a marijuana possession and speeding arrest by Jack Swagger, resulted in no punishment. Ariane Andrew (Cameron) had a DUI arrest and a charge at one point of attempting to bribe an officer (I believe the latter part of the charge was eventually dropped) a few years back, and she was suspended for 15 days. Tom Latimer, who is Bram in TNA now, who was originally part of The Ascension tag team in NXT, was fired after a fight with police officers after a second DUI charge.

Given those precedents, I don’t sense any serious punishment coming from this from a WWE standpoint, perhaps something minor if anything, provided nothing like this happens again.
 
dream

dream

Member
When the news broke Saturday of Chael Sonnen failing another drug test, this one administered on 6/5, I was shocked, and it is likely many in the MMA community were stunned.

It wasn't that Sonnen failed a drug test, or the revelation that he, or any of a number of top athletes in the sport may have been using Human Growth Hormone (HGH) or Recombinant Human Erythropoietin (EPO). The fact that one was caught doing so, a first for the sport of MMA, and an extreme rarity in the sporting world, is major news in both MMA and on the drug testing front.

For all the talk of steroids, the belief by athletes is that certain drugs, HGH, EPO and Insulin, provide a strong performance enhancing stack and can be used with limited fear of detection. The standard urine tests don't pick up those drugs. Blood testing, which is expensive and not used with much regularity, has limitations in detecting those substances. There is a short window of detection for HGH and EPO, and because the body produces Insulin, is almost impossible to test for added use. Most sports don't test for those drugs with the feeling it's not effective. In the major sports, there are union issues that haven't been worked through involving regularly taking blood samples. In those that do, there have only been a handful of athletes who have ever been caught using HGH despite the knowledge within the sports world that use is rampant.

Three days later, UFC and FOX released a joint statement, each terminating Sonnen.

“The UFC and FOX Sports organizations announced today (6/30) the termination of their respective broadcasting services agreements with analyst Chael Sonnen. The decision comes in light of Sonnen failing a second test conducted by the Nevada Athletic Commission for banned substances in June. Sonnen was previously under temporary suspension by the Nevada Athletic Commission for failing an initial test conducted in May.”

“You know, it’s never easy making decisions like this,” White said. “You know, Chael is a person I personally care about. I know a lot of people at FOX care about him too. The guy had four banned substances in his system, four banned substances in his system leading up to a fight here in Las Vegas. It’s a tough one. It’s one of those hard decisions you gotta make. It was definitely a hard one. It was something we had to do.”

UFC had only once cut a fighter, Nate Marquardt, based on a drug test situation. Marquardt, on TRT, tested over the limit about two weeks before his fight and his level didn’t return to acceptable by fight time, forcing them to have to scrap an advertised television main event at the last minute. Marquardt ended up being signed by Strikeforce and returned to UFC after Strikeforce was shut down, and actually won the main event of a show this past weekend. There had been cases of prelim fighters who lost fights and also failed their drug test that had been released in the past.

What killed Sonnen was not so much the failure, but the hypocrisy. He had just weeks earlier blasted rival Wanderlei Silva as being a fraud his entire career when Silva disappeared when ordered to take a surprise drug test. He had positioned himself after the ban on TRT as someone who always played by the rules that the governing body went with. When he came out so strong regarding the first drug test, noting he never took performance enhancing drugs, doing several interviews on FS 1 on the subject, the HGH and EPO failures made it seemingly impossible to do business with him right now.

Sonnen's failure may be breakthrough in itself, and an important message not just in MMA, but in all sports, that if testing is vigilant enough, perhaps the belief will change that you can use those substances with no fear of repercussions. But the circumstances really only lead one to open their eyes that the real message is more of a negative than a positive.

The circumstances of the detection methods, and if Sonnen is honest in addressing his time line of usage, at the scheduled 7/23 Nevada Athletic commission hearing, will reveal one of two things. Either Sonnen's failure was a fluke of timing, or it's a warning to athletes, as well as to the few top fighters who may be tested in the same manner he was before a scheduled major fight by the Nevada commission, that the game has the potential to change.

But there are scientific advances and there are costs involved. The fact is there have been tens of thousands of HGH tests administered in a variety of sports over the past six years since the first so-called legitimate test for HGH came out. The lack of failures led to widespread belief that the test was ineffective, and did virtually nothing to deter usage. The belief still remained in the heads of most athletes that HGH is banned, but you will almost never get caught using it. The combination of fast acting testosterone (there are some give a minor boost so you would never fail on the T:E ratio but you do get performance enhancing benefits when used in a stack with other drugs), HGH and Insulin (or in some cases Peptides) is a performance enhancing stack used regularly in drug tested sports.

HGH is used extensively in Hollywood, whether it be men or women, and in any profession where having a hard body is tied into marketability, particularly in older actors and actresses. The marked difference in TV star bodies from the prior generation and far more willingness to pose in skimpy swimsuit shots, even at older ages, for both men and women, is directly tied to the use.

When you watch WWE and ask how some of the people can look the way they do when the company is drug testing, there may be some very disciplined and very genetically gifted guys, but in a lot of cases, that is your answer. Because it would require great expense and catch nobody, WWE does not do blood testing. So even if Sonnen’s failure is a breakthrough in that it shows testing detection has improved, that will mean little with most sports drug testing. Before, the odds were astronomically high that anyone would be caught by the far more expensive HGH testing. In Major League Baseball, the NFL, WWE or any major professional sport aside from Cycling and the Olympics, there is no worrying at all about doing exactly what Sonnen appears to have done regarding using HGH and EPO.

MMA would have been on that list last week, which may explain why Sonnen was so brazen about pushing that he had not taken performance enhancing drugs, and being critical of Wanderlei Silva when Silva ran out on a drug test and saying his career was a fraud.

Today, many people are saying that about Sonnen.

But in U.S. combat sports, it's going to take a few more Sonnen cases before a clear message is sent.

The belief has been that HGH, because it breaks down in the body so quickly, can only be detected in the relatively new tests for several hours after a shot is administered. Actual HGH disseminates throughout the body rapidly. After minutes, HGH in the blood stream is converted to a derivative form, which is why the original HGH testing caught almost nobody. The new and more sophisticated testing looks for an unnatural increase in IGF-1 or P3NP, that occurs shortly after an injection of HGH.

That remains in the blood stream for between four and ten hours, and can be active within cell receptors for up to three days. It's the ability to detect this form in the cell receptors that is what is said to have strengthened the detection methods of HGH.

A key part of this story is when Sonnen took his most recent HGH shot. Within the world of those who coach pro athletes to beat tests is to use low enough levels of testosterone to stay under 4-1 (Sonnen, Belfort and those coming off TRT, because they were being regularly tested for testosterone in their blood and perhaps if they were throwing in more expensive Carbon Isotope Ratio (CIR) testing which shows any artificial testosterone, would be nailed because CIR testing is rarely used in sports), and use HGH and insulin, or peptides with HGH, but HGH is the key. Steroids and HGH are different. Steroids enlarge muscle cells. HGH increases the number muscle cells and also thickens connective tissue and enlarges organs, which is why the steroid/HGH combo is effective and why bodybuilders of today look so much different from the heavy steroid users of a previous generation, because of the added muscle cells from the HGH are then enlarged from the steroids.

The belief, and this is where Sonnen’s last shot comes in, is that the three day detection for HGH in current tests is believed to be propaganda and that the real detection time is two to four hours. Within that world, the belief is that Sonnen got caught for being stupid, because the idea is you inject HGH at 11 p.m., and no tester is coming to get you until 8 a.m., and thus, there is no fear of detection. The belief is they tested Sonnen within a few hours of his test and that he was not given smart advice about the late night shot. However, if it was more than four hours, this, which is major in the few sports that do test for HGH, that 11 p.m. shot doctrine may no longer be valid.

In theory, if somebody is cycling EPO and HGH, they could take a shot daily, so by that theory, even with the short detection span, catching people during their cycle shouldn’t be anywhere near as rare as it is.

I don’t know the exact number of HGH failures there have been over the last six years, but it’s no less than five but I don’t know that it’s even hit ten yet.

Doctors have talked of being close to HGH tests dating back decades. In 1992, Vince McMahon and Dr. Mauro DiPasquale Jr., claimed to have come up with the first test that would catch HGH users, although nobody in the scientific community bought it and DiPasquale Jr.’s testing never caught anyone using it. There has been no legitimate test administered until recent years. The first actual positive test came in late 2009 of rugby player Terry Newton, widely believed to be a tip off because of awareness that he had just administered a shot. But with the belief HGH was rampant at the London Olympics, which were more heavily tested for HGH than any sports competition in history, there were only two failures.

With EPO, the belief is also that there is a short detection window, of roughly 19 hours, give or take a few. EPO is used to enhance endurance by increasing the red blood cell count. If Sonnen admits to having used the substances, and is honest in the hearing about when he last administered them, it will give more information that claims that modern science has improved in detection, or he tested positive because he was unlucky to have been tested right after administering a shot.

For those who believe PED's pervert this and other sports, a breakthrough like this is major because if athletes truly believe testing can detect the substances, and that they can be tested at any time, usage becomes a risk, which it wasn’t before. The penalties of being caught, both reputation wise and financial, are huge. Stephan Bonnar lost his job as a FOX analyst over his second positive steroid test. He may have lost being given a lifetime job in UFC as a reward for the fight that put the company in the sporting consciousness. Sonnen could easily end up in the same boat. The problem is, as this case as well as recent publicized cases with both Wanderlei Silva and Vitor Belfort have shown, is the protocol of testing in this sport.

Belfort, who tested positive in February for a testosterone level being above allowable limits while under TRT therapy, this past week on Combate, the Brazilian fighting channel, gave an explanation. It was the Belfort positive and the idea doctors said that if he had just taken his normal dose, the potential was there for him to be temporarily over the limit, thus an explanation that, given what he was doing, he wasn’t cheating. But his latest explanation changes that.

“I took a shot the day before (the test) in Las Vegas,” he said. “I usually took the dosage throughout a week, but this day I took the whole weekly dosage. So, on that day, my levels were a little high, but nothing absurd. The limit was 1,100 and I was at 1,200.”

There are different doctors and labs who will give a different opinion of what the high level of allowable normal is, usually between 1,100 and 1,200. Nevada, under Keith Kizer, wanted fighters to not just be below that limit, but by at the low to medium range of normal, more in the 500 to 600 range, with the idea the TRT gets them normal, not high normal. Belfort’s actual test number in February was 1,472, well above any ceiling. Because he was not licensed in Nevada as a fighter, they legally couldn’t suspend him, but if he applied for a license in Nevada, they could deny him the license based on the test result. Since Sonnen failed his test, Belfort had no opponent for 7/5, so UFC had him pull out of his 6/17 license hearing since there was no reason to get a license.

In all three cases, as well as that of Alistair Overeem in 2012, it was unannounced random testing done by Nevada that resulted in the failures, and not the standard urine tests done the night of the fight that fighters are expecting. All four fighters, had they not been star fighters in headline matches in Nevada, would have never been tested so stringently, and would have almost surely skated through, doing exactly what they had been doing for who knows how long, under normal circumstances. The idea they are the only ones is terribly naive. Based on talking with many fighters and trainers on this subject, the belief is that use is plentiful. Both Brian Stann and Georges St-Pierre in recent months cited as one of the reasons, not the only reason, they chose to retire was the inadequate drug testing and proliferation of use. Michael Bisping’s whole career changes when you take away the losses to people who were likely using PEDs when he fought them, and he’s been vehement about the subject. However, the idea that some pro-drug guys propagate, that everyone is using and that you can’t compete at the top level without it, is also not the case.

Fighting for 25 minutes in a championship fight takes unbelievable stamina, and EPO allows both harder and more intense training and develops more stamina in a fighter. If Sonnen was taking HGH while under TRT, the combination magnifies the effect, in other words, while his testosterone levels may have always been within normal levels, the affect of his added testosterone was multiplied if he was using HGH with it. Perhaps he will argue he only started on the drugs after getting off TRT, but unlike with Anastrozole, Clomiphene and HCG, these are performance enhancing drugs on the top of the banned list, and not drugs banned because the medical usage of them in athletes is coming off a steroid cycle and thus are used to catch people who may not test positive for steroids, but almost surely were doing them. In the case of Sonnen, the steroids, testosterone, were a given since the commission itself approved of the use.

If anything, this proves the need for year-around extensive testing throughout the UFC roster, not just for Nevada main eventers. But doing so looks to be cost prohibitive, so in the end, these failures only underscore there is a problem, and it's probably significant, and leave one frustrated about the lack of a viable solution. For every Chael Sonnen, are there 50, 150 or 250 others just like him on the UFC roster, only too low profile? Nobody knows. It’s the same major league baseball argument regarding Ryan Braun, Alex Rodriguez or Barry Bonds. They absolutely were guilty, and like Sonnen, their respective attitudes publicly on the subject added to their troubles in the long run. But it was their success that is what cost them, as with the money at stake, plenty of mid-level players were likely doing similar things.

While no data is out, it would appear that the percentage of failures in the out of competition unannounced testing dwarfs those of the testing methods used in almost all states. If anything, the recent stories accentuate just how ineffective the testing procedures in MMA are unless one is scheduled for a high-profile fight in Nevada, or, like Jon Jones and Glover Teixeira, they agree to be randomly tested in a high profile championship fight and UFC agrees to foot the bill. And even in all those cases, most of the tests were done a couple of months before the fights and both fighters were fully aware they were going to be tested regularly during the short window.

Belfort knew he was going to be tested regularly and failed, but the unique situation of him not being licensed led to the commission not being allowed to suspend him.

Sonnen and Silva, since they were not in a title fight, did not know they would be tested. But in the case of Sonnen, it was naive to not think he would be tested, as a former TRT user. Still, after being tested on 5/24, he probably wasn’t expecting another test on 6/5. It would be incumbent for the commission to at least urine test him and the HCG, Clomiphene and Anastrozole would show up. It is believed that all three of these drugs can be detected for at most ten days after most recent usage, although Sonnen did have legitimate medical need for all three drugs. And he’s been around sports long enough to know that having a legitimate medical need for compounds that are on the banned list are banned.

Dana White at a press conference recently noted the cost of the enhanced testing that Jones asked for, for he and Teixeira, ran in excess of $40,000. That was only for a short period, basically testing throughout the training camp of two fighters. Multiply that by 500 fighters and for 12 months of the year instead of two months, and you get a figure of $60 million annually. UFC generates a lot money. Nobody in this sport generates enough money to come close to affording that bill. Granted, you don’t have to do extensive blood and urine testing weekly on every fighter throughout the year to do enough testing to at least give fighters the fear a test could happen at any time.

There does need to be additional testing, enough that there is at least the fear of getting caught in the back of everyone’s mind. One Olympic athlete in April spoke to me about being at the Olympic training center with two of the best known fighters in the UFC, and asking them about PEDs in their sport. The answer both men gave was that the lure to use them is strong, because careers are short, the differences in making money for different levels of success is huge, and the testing is totally inadequate.

Even though you can probably get a major group discount, and if UFC entered into an agreement with a major testing organization the bill would be nowhere near $60 million, nor would every fighter be tested constantly, there are still issues.

For years, White has given the line that UFC fighters have it tougher than anyone, except Olympic athletes, because they are tested by the government. On paper, that wasn’t close to the case, because testing in most states, and when UFC does it themselves, is usually limited to a urine test on the day of the fight.

But today, there are two arguments that it is the case, given all sports, including UFC, by nature, are going to want to protect their top stars. There were allegations that baseball, as much as they wanted to clean up their image, that the few superstars were getting tipped ahead of time about a so-called random test. Years ago in the NFL, there was a news story regarding a number of starting quarterbacks that had tested positive, yet none of the names came out nor were there any suspensions. The story turned out to be accurate. Stories of multiple failed drug tests by Ultimate Warrior in 1992, at a time WWF was at its most vigilant on the issue, as it was far more of a priority than it appears to be today, although today’s athletes are far more sophisticated than 20 years ago when it comes to what they can and can’t do. Ironically, Sonnen fit into that category and it’s so crazy he was the one caught, since nobody had talked more about following the rules of competition, and was more critical of rivals rumored to have built up impressive records while on the stuff.

Warrior was never suspended. It came out in one of his many court cases, with WWF allowing him to continue with the idea that his levels were lowered in tests so they claimed the positives were from prior use. But still, there was also another test failure for a new drug not in prior tests that again he wasn’t suspended, with them accepting the tainted supplement defense. However, he was eventually fired when they flat out found out about a shipment of HGH from overseas that was intercepted by authorities.

Major Olympic doctors have written books mentioning positive test results in the Olympics that were covered up.

As far as Sonnen himself goes, the HCG and Anastrozole failures in the 6/5 test and the Clomiphene and Anastrozole failure in the 5/23 test, were almost surely still going to lead to a suspension. Sonnen, at the very least, needed to inform the commission ahead of time as to what he was using to attempt to get his testes to start functioning after years of TRT, which he didn't do. That doesn't apply to HGH and EPO, clear performance enhancing compounds.

As far as Sonnen's career goes, it is likely over now. He announced his retirement earlier this month. One could have argued some sympathy in punishment before. That argument can no longer be made.

Even if his suspension is over in a year, given his age, and questions as to how well his body can perform clean, as well as the controversy, make it a lot less likely he could come back and perform at near the top level, or that UFC would bring him back given the lightning rod of bad publicity.
 
dream

dream

Member
Given what Sonnen failed for, he's now like the baseball players whose entire careers are called into question. He wasn't the only one using, but he's the one who got caught because of tests that had improved, or extreme bad luck of timing. But those drugs are an attempt to circumvent the system, break the rules with limited fear of repercussions. You can make an argument they could speed up his body being able to train at a certain level while going through the natural testosterone crash of cold turkey dropping TRT, there is no ambivalence as to whether HGH and EPO are banned or would be considered illegal to be used under any circumstances in this sport.

White was heavily criticized for defending Sonnen somewhat on the first test results, even though in that case White was more rational based on the evidence as was known at the time than many. With the new evidence, the situation is different.

I'm in the same boat, as I recognized there was a major problem in how the banning of TRT went down, even though it's best for almost all concerned for it to be eliminated from the sport and it would have been better if the can of worms was never opened a few years ago in the first place.

“We were made aware that a second random test, conducted earlier this month, resulted in a positive test for additional banned substances,” said Dave Sholler, the UFC Senior Director of Public Relations, in reading a prepared statement to the media after the 6/28 UFC show, hours after the story broke. “Chael will have the opportunity to appear in front of the Nevada Athletic Commission next month, and through a statement released to the media tonight, he’s pledged to cooperate. Our stance on the subject remains absolutely the same. We support the commission and we will continue to ensure that all UFC competitors compete on an even playing field, free of performance enhancing drugs and banned substances.”

“I will cooperate with the commission and look forward to having a dialogue about how fighters who transition off TRT can avoid violating any rules,” Sonnen said in a statement released to MMAFighting.com

Before, Sonnen had an easy transition after fighting, as he was FOX's golden boy announcer going forward. Sonnen had remained host of UFC Tonight and continued to serve in that role after the first test failure was announced, a decision that caused virtually no backlash. But a positive test for HGH and EPO changed his fate.

And it was a black eye for Fox Sports 1's UFC coverage on Saturday night, while covering a live event just as the news broke. During the live event itself, even though there was down time between fights, the Sonnen situation, which broke as the show was going on, was never mentioned. On the post-game show, it appeared it wasn’t going to be mentioned either, until a simple reading of the UFC statement in response was read by Karyn Bryant at about 2 a.m., just before the show went off the air. That’s almost as bad, if not worse, then ignoring it completely, because it only called attention to people who didn’t know the story by that time just how badly they were burying it.

It can’t be justified on what is supposed to be a news show on UFC to not mention a major drug test failure of a FOX co-host whose first failure weeks earlier was a lead item on one of their shows as well as a lead item on their UFC Tonight show where Sonnen explained his side of the story on the original test positives.

The fact his explanation on their network fell apart needed to be discussed, and was far more important and topical than the usual standard running through the results and highlights of a just-completed show.

Sonnen had potential as an endorsement pitchman because of his sales ability. He was even talked about within UFC as being the replacement as front man of the UFC itself should something happen to White. White had even brought that up before his test failures.

As bad as it looks for him, there's another reality of time. What happened with Sonnen, with the denial and then more evidence springing up making the denial look incredibly dishonest has happened with Lance Armstrong, who Sonnen himself once criticized, Marion Jones, a few baseball players who have some of the most impressive Hall of Fame credentials in history and are, in symbolism, not getting in at this point, and even Hulk Hogan, all of whom got far more mainstream coverage than Sonnen will. It disgraced all of them and did Hogan no favors short-term. Hogan did an almost complete recovery, in the sense two years later he was back to being big Hulk Hogan, and almost nobody even remembers today what happened. But Sonnen is not the cultural iconic figure Hogan is. And also, there is more of a stigma toward PEDs in a man-on-man fight because of the attempt to physically harm the opponent than in a performance situation, even though the competitive advantage aspect is there in both, and maybe as much in Hollywood and wrestling as in sports, because in sports if you can win with a bad body, you can be a champion. In Hollywood and wrestling, how you look is far more significant when it comes to your success.

The question regards what is next. WWE has had interest in Sonnen in the past, but Vince McMahon doesn’t like using ex-MMA fighters on the belief that they won’t be willing to do the schedule. In addition, his age would have worked against him, and I don’t think even if those factors weren’t there, that WWE would hire someone who had just tested positive for HGH. They did negotiate with Shawne Merriman, who failed an NFL steroid test, but that was years earlier and largely forgotten. Because of being 37, and the WWE being shy about signing people for training past the age of 30, and almost certainly 35, being a wrestler is unlikely.

Sonnen has spoken with Gerald Brisco at WWE to put together a meeting with Paul Levesque. According to those close to the situation, Sonnen was pretty much told he was too old to start wrestling training, but there could be interest in him as an announcer. But WWE would be leery right now given Sonnen’s name being what it is right now, and WWE’s being a publicly traded company and having to answer to stockholders who could ask questions.

As far as being a talker, he probably would excel, whether that’s as a heel manager (a role that also takes training but the shelf life of the performer can be longer because age isn’t as much a factor) or a television announcer. But I can’t see anyone touching him for at least a few months, if not longer.

Plus, there are still commission states that regulate pro wrestling, although few do it seriously. But with Sonnen under a temporary Nevada suspension, and likely eventually for a longer one, he would technically not be allowed to wrestle in those states as long as the suspension is in effect.

TNA hired Pacman Jones, who crimes were a hell of a lot more significant than anything Sonnen did. But they may not be in the financial condition to do so, plus they creative when it came to Rampage Jackson, King Mo Lawal and Tito Ortiz was pretty much horrible. Sonnen, because of his talking, has more potential in pro wrestling, and for TNA, his age won’t be as much of a factor. But as good as he can talk, he’d still be a novice in the ring and thus a manager or announcer role would fit. But in TNA, they have Taz in the spot and Taz is tight with John Gaburick, so there’s no role except heel manager and right now there doesn’t appear to be an opening.

Bellator under Bjorn Rebney would have probably hired him at some point because they jumped at UFC problem children like War Machine and Paul Daley. And for suspension reasons, he’s not going to be able to fight again any time soon. Even if they offered big money for his return on PPV, it couldn’t take place until after whatever suspension Nevada gives him expires. As far as Spike hiring him as some kind of a personality, it’s a touchy situation. There’s probably a part of them that would want to, but it’s probably not happening now or any time soon. Also, Sonnen always felt to me like a Matt Hughes type who would always be loyal to the UFC brand, so the only way he’d make that move would be if he felt the doors to UFC were closed to him permanently.

At press time, Sonnen was still scheduled to compete in submission wrestling against Andre Galvao in The main event of the 8/9 Metamoris show in Los Angeles.

“Yes, he is on the card,” said promoter Ralek Gracie to MMAFighting.com. “We will test his skills only.”

That was a very tone deaf reaction.

Submission fighting is not governed by athletic commissions and thus his suspension in Nevada would not preclude his appearing. But he was using PED’s and even if you aren’t testing, it looks really bad as a sports competition to ignore the results of tests.

Even if this blows over in a couple of years, and time does heal a lot of wounds, over the short-term he may have to go silent for a while. And that may be the biggest punishment of all.
 
dream

dream

Member
UFC will be announcing Pat Miletich as the newest member of its Hall of Fame at 11:30 a.m. on 7/6 at the Fan Expo. Miletich, 48, is absolutely a deserving entrant and was considered by most as being, along with Frank Shamrock, the strongest candidate who is no longer active who isn’t in. He had been on bad terms in the past with UFC, but things have been smoothed over. Miletich was a pioneer of the sport, starting on small shows in 1995 when shows of that type were just starting. He won his first 15 fights and gained a reputation as one of the first good technical fighters in the U.S. Even though a natural welterweight, Miletich fought regularly in non-weight class fights in that era, including once going to a 20 minute draw with the much larger Dan Severn in 1998. He became the first UFC welterweight champion, by winning a tournament and then winning a split decision over a favored Mikey Burnett on October 16, 1998, in a boring fight. He defended the title four times before losing to Carlos Newton on May 4, 2001. He never had a shot to get it back, as UFC booked Newton against Matt Hughes, one of Miletich’s proteges, in Newton’s first title defense and he won the title. Miletich retired due to neck injuries in 2002, but came back for two fights in 2006 and 2008. Besides as a fighter, Miletich was a trainer and the Miletich Fighting Systems was the top camp in the sport in the mid-00s boasting UFC champions Tim Sylvia, Hughes and Jens Pulver, Elite XC champion Robbie Lawler. He also coached in the IFL, which made him a political opponent at the time of the UFC. He currently works with Michael Schiavello as the color commentator for AXS Fights. Miletich would be on the short list of strongest candidates out there with Frank Shamrock, B.J. Penn, Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva, all of who belong in, and it’s a lock all on that list except Frank Shamrock will be.

It’s another two weekend show with the biggest event since December, UFC 175 on 7/5 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. It starts at 7 p.m. Eastern with Fight Pass bouts with Guilherme Vasconcelos vs Luke Zachrich and Kevin Casey vs. Bubba Bush. The FS 1 fights at 8 p.m. have Rob Font vs. George Roop, Chris Camozzi vs. Bruno Santos, Ildemar Alcantara vs. Kenny Robertson and Urijah Faber vs. Alex Caceres. The PPV fights are Marcus Brimage vs. Russell Doane, Uriah Hall vs. Thiago Santos, Matt Mitrione vs. Stefan Struve, Ronda Rousey vs. Alexis Davis for the women’s bantamweight title and Chris Weidman vs. Lyoto Machida for the middleweight title. Still crazy that Faber is in the prelims and total unknowns are in the PPV opener and there’s zero star power in the second match as well. Vitor Belfort, who faces the winner, said he’d like his title shot at Maracana Stadium, which was the site of some famous Helios and Carlson Gracie matches in the 50s including the Helios Gracie vs. Masahiro Kimura fight.

The 7/6 show, which hasn’t been fully announced, will be probably five hours on FS 1. Fights announced thus far are Keith Berish vs. Robert Drysdale (a BJJ whiz who is 6-0 in MMA), Alexis Dufrense vs. Sarah Moras, Adriano Martins vs. Juan Manuel Puig, Leandro Issa vs. Jumabieke Tuerxun, Kevin Lee vs. Jesse Ronson, Dustin Ortiz vs. Justin Scoggins, Guto Inocente vs. Derrick Lewis, the two TUF finales plus Frankie Edgar vs. B.J. Penn as the main event.

UFC 175 is the company’s biggest show so far this year, although the loss of Chael Sonnen to me took it from that big show you can’t miss to something a lot less. I was thinking 600,000 to 700,000 buys just because it felt like such a loaded lineup when it was Sonnen vs. Wanderlei Silva, figuring the promotional work Sonnen would be doing down the stretch, and perhaps even more. It’s not that Sonnen alone would be a big draw, but when he’s third from the top with two major title matches, you have the idea of a deep show. Now, particularly taking Faber off the PPV, it’s really two title matches, neither of which would be that big on their own. Weidman vs. Machida is a real deal match as far as a champion against a top contender where it’s a real test for the champion. Machida, because of his effectiveness in facing guys with a wrestling background (Jon Jones being the exception) may be the worst style match up out there for Weidman (it’s either Machida or Jacare Souza who would fit that bill). Weidman doesn’t feel to me like he’s over the hump as a draw even with two wins over Anderson Silva, and they are even promoting the fight with that direction in that even with those two wins, Weidman hasn’t gotten the credit one would expect for wins of those levels. However, Machida is also known for not having exciting fights, and to me, Weidman vs. Machida doesn’t have the firepower that Weidman vs. Vitor Belfort, the original main event, would have had. Rousey is a big star, but nobody expects Alexis Davis to stand a chance against her. This will be her third fight in the last six-and-a-half months. So this is my thought, given the plus of the holiday weekend, and also the idea of this being “the big show” and UFC having weak shows leading in so there could be the idea that with people not watching, they are due to come back. Anything less than 400,000 buys would be a real sign that the PPV business is in decline. At 400,000 to 500,000 I’d say it’s fine, with my prediction being in the 400,000 to 450,000 range because at this point I don’t feel the huge buzz of a big show. If Rousey, and it’s going to have to be her, because Weidman, Machida and Davis are not going to capture the public late, can get a big buzz, perhaps it could be better. Rousey and Miesha Tate got it, but Rousey and Sara McMann never got it, and McMann had more intrigue as an opponent than Davis because you at least had the Olympian vs. Olympian hook and two unbeaten fighters. Anything above 500,000 I’d call a pretty solid success.

UFC announced a unique deal with the Vale Tudo Japan promotion with the two companies working together on a television show that combines the idea of Ultimate Fighter with a round-robin format like a sumo tournament or the G-1 Climax. All the details are to be announced on 9/20 at the UFC’s show at the Saitama Super Arena, including the TV details and the names of all the fighters selected for the show. The new TV show will air on network television and was described to me as being like a documentary as opposed to like The Ultimate Fighter. There will be eight bantamweights and eight featherweights. They will all face the others in their weight class once, so everyone in theory will have seven fights in a season that will go 30 weeks. The real trick will be keeping the guys healthy in doing seven fights over a filming season that looks to be eight months. Granted, Ultimate Fighter can require three or four fights in six weeks, which is also a battle of attrition, but these in theory would be tougher caliber fights. They won’t be living in a Fighter house and having teams or coaches like TUF. Instead, it will be shot like a documentary where all the fighters will be shown where they train, at their home, with their families and the idea is to get a look at their real personalities and lives as opposed to the more contrived existence in the fighter house where they are not allowed any contact with the outside world. The fighter with the best record in each weight division will get a UFC contract. Also, it’s not supposed to be young unknown fighters like in TUF, but it’s supposed to be the best Japanese fighters in both weight classes, including a few names that would be familiar to long-time fans.

Dana White this past week went to Hong Kong, Macao and Japan to negotiate TV deals. He said they were in good shape in China for a new TV deal, but it wasn’t signed yet so he didn’t want to talk more about it. Vale Tudo Japan, the parent company of Shooto, is the first of what would be called modern MMA. The rules were different, but it dates back to 1985, when Satoru Sayama, the original Tiger Mask, formed the promotion as a shoot, running small events at Korakuen Hall, after the first Japanese UWF went down.

Regarding negotiations for Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano, perhaps for an end of the year type show (Rousey is doing movies and will be taking time off after the next fight), things aren’t going smoothly. “Anyone with a Hollywood agent, they’re deal breakers, not deal makers,” said White. “It’ll take Gina coming into our offices to get the deal done.” Carano has said if no deal gets done now, she won’t entertain the idea of coming back in the future, but she’s up for fighting in this window. Of course it’s going to be tough negotiating with a Hollywood agent, but ultimately, if she wants it, she should make sure the deal gets done.

After next week, the upcoming PPV dates are 8/30 (no location and no main event announced, and that’s cutting it close to say the least but Las Vegas looks to be the location), 9/27 (Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson, no location official but Toronto is on hold still for the date), 10/25 in Rio de Janiero (no main event yet), 11/15 in Mexico City (Cain Velasquez vs. Fabricio Werdum), 12/6 (right now Anthony Pettis vs. Gilbert Melendez is tentatively scheduled for this date–this was originally in Montreal but the last word is that may be moved since Tom Wright in New Zealand said they were looking at moving Montreal to March and the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas has been talked about for that date. This would coincide with the usual schedule of the TUF finale in Las Vegas, but that’s traditionally not a PPV show), and the year-end show will be 1/3 in Las Vegas (that would be hoped for as a Ronda Rousey fight and if possible, Vitor Belfort challenging for the middleweight title). That date really sucks for me because late night 1/3 in Las Vegas is the afternoon of 1/4 in Japan, meaning one of the biggest MMA shows of the year will be going head-to-head with the second biggest (as far as a live event goes) pro wrestling show of the year.

UFC in negotiations with another fairly major tape library which would be of early era footage, including I believe, a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff from the early UFC events.

Pettis has signed an endorsement deal with General Mills for Wheaties, which could include a cereal box cover. Wheaties, for the first time in its history, is doing a fan vote by logging workouts through the Wheaties NEXT Challenge through 8/31, and the athlete with the most votes based on workouts logged will be on a 2015 box cover. Pettis is in competition with Ryan Dungey (Motocross), Blake Leeper (Para-athletics track and field), Rob Pannell (Lacrosse) and Christen Press (women’s soccer). Pettis also this past week signed a Reebok sponsorship deal. He’s a great fighter and all, but these deals are all about being a great fighter with what these companies believe is a marketable look.

Antonio Silva will be having surgery to remove a tumor on his pituitary gland that returned after similar surgery years ago that caused his acromegaly. He is currently suspended for having to high a level of testosterone in his system (similar to Vitor Belfort), which he claimed was because his doctor told him to take a shot before his fight with Mark Hunt in December. He’s hopeful of returning on 9/13 on a show in Brasilia, and will have the surgery after the fight.

After Ronda Rousey said she could beat any woman in BJJ, most of the BJJ black belt world champions challenged her. Realistically, someone from another sport is not going to, no matter how good an athlete they may be, walk into another sport and beat a world champion. Even Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Couture involved a couple of years of training.

Announced for 9/20 at the Saitama Super Arena, the biggest Fight Pass show to date, are Roy Nelson vs. Mark Hunt, Miesha Tate vs. Rin Nakai and Chris Cariaso vs. Kyoji Horiguchi. They also announced the returns of three of Japan’s biggest stars from the MMA heyday, Takanori Gomi, Yoshihiro Akiyama and Kid Yamamoto. Akiyama and Yamamoto both would have been out of action for two-and-a-half years, and are now 38 and 37. Akiyama, known for having one of the best ring entrances in history, has lost his last four, and really, his last five because his win over Alan Belcher was a gift. Yamamoto is 1-5 since coming back from a torn ACL, which pretty much ended him as a badass wrestler. It wasn’t said what weight both will fight in. Akiyama had moved to 170 for the first time in his last fight because he was too small for modern middleweights. The last I heard about Yamamoto is that he was going to cut to 125, but nothing was said regarding that. Years ago, Yamamoto vs. Urijah Faber was considered an interpromotional dream match. I’ve heard hints of that for here. Dana White even mentioned Faber as a possible opponent for Yamamoto while in Japan. Faber was one of the fighters that was at one point if all went well schedule-wise and injury wise coming off the 7/5 show that was being earmarked for this show.

White also said that plans for 2015 are to run the same number of PPV shows and same number of overall shows as 2014. I actually expected them to run more shows on Fight Pass next year since they’ve got so many markets to service, but keep the TV and PPV numbers the same. The one thing UFC 174 proved is that the value of the UFC name and just being a UFC PPV being enough to do a certain number of buys is gone. When they produce a show that people aren’t excited to see, people will skip it, and Demetrious Johnson vs. Ali Bagautinov excited virtually nobody.

Dominick Cruz’s return looks to be around September provided he can get through a camp. His camp said he’d be ready for the 8/30 PPV show if needed, but would prefer September and asked for Takeya Mizugaki as a first opponent. White told me they were targeting him for a September fight. If it’s Mizugaki, and September, Japan would make sense.

GSP got some bad publicity for penning a letter supporting Jimmy Cournoyer, who had pleaded guilty for a number of drug trafficking crimes. The publicity was bad enough that on 6/29, GSP said that the letter was a mistake and apologized for it, saying his goal was just to get Cournoyer to be able to serve his time in Canada instead of the U.S. so he would be closer to his family. He noted that the two have been friends from the gym and he didn’t have any idea of Cournoyer’s crimes until he was arrested, but did say he had visited him twice in person and have talked many times since his arrest, because he believes in loyalty and redemption and will support him.

While no date is official, it looks like the first Invicta event on Fight Pass will be in late August.

Forrest Griffin did an interview with the Boston Herald and said his decision to retire came after tearing his ACL, MCL and meniscus plus having three shoulder surgeries and the realization he can’t get through a camp, nor if he could, could he be anywhere near his best. He jokes that his job working for UFC as its Community Outreach Liaison involves working two days a week for four to five hours and spends most of his time hanging around at home. He said going to the gym used to be fun and he used to improve, but he wasn’t getting better and it wasn’t fun. He said his advice to fighters is to spar less, because everyone some day loses their chin, and there’s no point in losing it in the gym for free. Regarding his use of TRT at the end of his career: “I knew what I was doing. I knew that what I was doing is bad for my body in the long run, potentially, and I was doing what the doctor gave me, so it wasn’t crazy. But I mean, there’s a chance (you can) enlarge your heart, enlarge your prostate, lose your prostate, not be able to (perform) after 50. So I took that into advisement in doing that. But to me, being a better fighter was worth it. It was worth even shortening your life span to be good at something.” He said he went on TRT for 20 straight months and then got off because he tore his knee and just quit using. He said when he got off, he had no drive and just ate donuts and ice cream every day and would wait for his daughter to take a nap so he could drink beer and eat more donuts. He was feeling terrible. Eight months later, he went to the doctor and found out he was producing no sperm, so he took HCG for three months to get his body kicking in.

Demian Maia vs. Mike Pyle and Thales Leites vs. Francis Carmont have been added to the 8/23 show in Tulsa.

Pascal Krauss, (11-2), of West Germany, who hasn’t fought since August, will be one of the candidates in the German language version of “The Bachelorette,” which debuts on RTL in Germany on 7/16. In the hype for the show, they talk about how he’s a big star in the U.S. who sells out arenas.

Yosdenis Cedeno vs. Leo Kuntz has been added to the 7/16 show in Atlantic City. Kuntz is making his UFC debut and has a 17-1-1 record, with his lone loss coming five years ago. He tried out for season 16 of TUF, but lost in the qualifying round to Sam Alvey. Also on that show, Jim Alers is out, so Alex White is a late replacement for Lucas Martins.

Aaron Phillips vs. Matt Hober, in a battle of guys who each lost in their UFC debuts, has been added to 8/23 in Tulsa.
 
dream

dream

Member
The 6/21 Glory PPV bombed. The only thing we heard is that it did less than both TNA and ROH, and that’s with a two-hour pre-game show on Spike that had 483,000 viewers, so the conversion rate had to be astronomically low. That’s come directly off the surprising success of the Bellator show, but that had far more advertising and all the Spike specials and the great Mo vs. Rampage build which was one of the most effective PPV match builds in a while.
 
H

Heel

Member
dream said:
Wheaties NEXT Challenge through 8/31, and the athlete with the most votes based on workouts logged will be on a 2015 box cover. Pettis is in competition with Ryan Dungey (Motocross), Blake Leeper (Para-athletics track and field), Rob Pannell (Lacrosse) and Christen Press (women’s soccer).
Click to expand...

Good luck, Anthony. I have a feeling you'll need it.
 
S

strobogo

Banned
What the fuck, Zuffa really had plans to have Chael be the front man if "something were to happen" to Dana? Like being attacked by bookies? As awful as Dana is, how on earth would be having a convicted money launderer and snitch who happens to say incredibly incendiary shit about entire populations of people (even though just trolling to sell a fight) being the public face of your company be a good idea to anyone?
 
J

Jest Chillin

Member
strobogo said:
What the fuck, Zuffa really had plans to have Chael be the front man if "something were to happen" to Dana? Like being attacked by bookies? As awful as Dana is, how on earth would be having a convicted money launderer and snitch who happens to say incredibly incendiary shit about entire populations of people (even though just trolling to sell a fight) being the public face of your company be a good idea to anyone?
Click to expand...

The felon part doesn't mesh but the incendiary shit about whole groups of people isn't too far off from Dana "Women will never ever be in the UFC" White.
 
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