All UFC Thread

[OzExorcist]

So here's a thing...

ANDERSON SILVA HAD A POSITIVE OUT-OF-COMPETITION TEST FOR STEROID METABOLITES



^ seriously, that's the exact face I made reading that story...

UPDATE:

So of course, not to be outdone, Nick Diaz got pinged for marijuana use in his post-fight test...

 

[WVHillbilly]

He just needs to give it up.

 

[Suited Frenzy]

So here's a thing...

ANDERSON SILVA HAD A POSITIVE OUT-OF-COMPETITION TEST FOR STEROID METABOLITES



^ seriously, that's the exact face I made reading that story...

UPDATE:

So of course, not to be outdone, Nick Diaz got pinged for marijuana use in his post-fight test...

Both situations are pathetic IMO. Totally not classy or very business like of either of them.

Especially after getting the go for a ME fight.

Very disrespectful of the sport.

 

[OzExorcist]

Eh, the Diaz one is hardly surprising any more - dude just loves weed, seems pretty clear by this stage. It's clearly not performance enhancing so really it's just silly on his part, he's costing himself money. Which he could have used. To buy more weed

The Silva one is amazing to me though, considering he's been pretty vocal about PEDs in the past. Can't wait to see how his camp tries to explain this. I'm gonna guess "drug prescribed for the rehab of his leg that they forgot to tell the commission about"... time will tell.

 

[KUN_AGUERO_KROOS]

Hmmm. It is pretty bad that Anderson and Jones got caught cause it feeds the MMA haters.

 

[OzExorcist]

To be fair, I'm not sure that anyone outside of the MMA sphere cares that Jon Jones tested positive for cocaine. What's the headline, "Young person with too much money uses drugs occasionally"? It's a story that everyone's heard thousands of times before, it's not performance enhancing and it's not like he's running for president or anything. Care factor with the general public has gotta be about zero.

Silva, on the other hand... yeah, that's kind of a black eye for the sport. If Joe Public is gonna be aware of any MMA fighters at all, Silva's name (along with GSP, probably Rousey and Jones, maybe Conor McGregror now LOL) will be one of just a few on that very short list and it's not a good look.

 

[Suited Frenzy]

Hmmm. It is pretty bad that Anderson and Jones got caught cause it feeds the MMA haters.

To be fair, I'm not sure that anyone outside of the MMA sphere cares that Jon Jones tested positive for cocaine. What's the headline, "Young person with too much money uses drugs occasionally"? It's a story that everyone's heard thousands of times before, it's not performance enhancing and it's not like he's running for president or anything. Care factor with the general public has gotta be about zero.

Silva, on the other hand... yeah, that's kind of a black eye for the sport. If Joe Public is gonna be aware of any MMA fighters at all, Silva's name (along with GSP, probably Rousey and Jones, maybe Conor McGregror now LOL) will be one of just a few on that very short list and it's not a good look.

Yeah, I agree.

The thing is though is that they are negative things & haters in almost every sport. People do things that are against the "rules" in every sport. Some just don't get caught.

The MLB, the NFL (especially this past year in 2014), the NBA, the NHL are just a few of them but all have had some type of negativity. There are "haters" out there that dislike every type of sport.

I really doubt this kind of negative attention has any real affect in the long run on the sport of MMA. I believe it's still the fastest growing in the world. I doubt much will change because of these few hiccups.


Can't wait for this>>> UFC 185 There will be some awesome fights in this one!

 

[KUN_AGUERO_KROOS]

To be fair, I'm not sure that anyone outside of the MMA sphere cares that Jon Jones tested positive for cocaine. What's the headline, "Young person with too much money uses drugs occasionally"? It's a story that everyone's heard thousands of times before, it's not performance enhancing and it's not like he's running for president or anything. Care factor with the general public has gotta be about zero.

Couldn't disagree more. He's an athlete. Not a celebrity like Charlie Sheen. And he's the p4p best fighter. Without GSP, and Anderson not 100%, he is the only superstar in UFC. So that means the two big names on the sport tested positive for drugs. Is it asking too much for a clean sport? Without junkies and cheaters?

 

[OzExorcist]

185 is looking like a pretty solid card

What does everyone think of Benson Henderson's move up to welterweight BTW? Will it actually be a good thing for him, or is it just something he's doing because there's no clear path for him to get back to a title shot at lightweight?

Couldn't disagree more. He's an athlete. Not a celebrity like Charlie Sheen. And he's the p4p best fighter. Without GSP, and Anderson not 100%, he is the only superstar in UFC. So that means the two big names on the sport tested positive for drugs. Is it asking too much for a clean sport? Without junkies and cheaters?

Yes... but one of them tested positive for something that nobody really cares about. Athletes do recreational drugs all the time and even when they're silly enough to get caught, people simply don't care. Take Wes Welker, he got pinged for recreational drug use in the last NFL offseason and got a brief suspension, but there was no outrage from the public - either when it happened, or when his suspension got cut in half. Does anyone even remember that Andre Agassi got caught using crystal meth? Michael Phelps basically just got a slap on the wrist from the US Olympic Committee when he was photographed with his face in a bong*. Most people believe it's a waste of time even testing for these drugs, since they don't enhance performance.

So like I said, if this story was going to cause a black eye for the UFC it would have already happened. But it didn't. Joe Public doesn't really care. Hell, even Reebok don't seem to care and if it's not a problem for the conservative-as-hell corporate sponsors... let's be honest, it's only really fuel for Jon Jones haters. Who only make up a small portion of the hardcore MMA fanbase, and who are going to continue consuming the product regardless.

Even people who hate the UFC as a whole don't particularly care about it, because they've got a heap of better material to draw from (rampant use of actual PEDs, every second thing that comes out of Dana White's mouth, and of course "OMG it's awful bloodsport won't someone think of the children").

Plus it's not like Jones has a squeaky-clean Captain America image to protect. His behaviour out of the ring is arrogant at best and his highlight reel consists of some of the most violent and vicious stuff ever
done in any sport, period. He's a dangerous guy, very possibly the best fighter in the world, and kind of a jerk. Now that people know he's dabbled in cocaine he's... still a dangerous guy, still probably the best fighter in the world, and still kind of a jerk. It changes nothing. If anything, it actually fits his image. I'm almost disappointed he gave a half-arsed apology and went to rehab (for one day LOL).

* don't be under any illusions BTW - the fact that there was a picture was the real story there. The story "Michael Phelps does weed at a party" without any accompanying picture almost certainly doesn't make the news, and he probably even gets to keep his sponsors.

 

[FastOne]

So here's a thing...

ANDERSON SILVA HAD A POSITIVE OUT-OF-COMPETITION TEST FOR STEROID METABOLITES



^ seriously, that's the exact face I made reading that story...

UPDATE:

So of course, not to be outdone, Nick Diaz got pinged for marijuana use in his post-fight test...

Yeah, that's the face I just made after reading those links as well.

BTW, I'm not an Anderson Silva fan at all, but that just s*cks big time. Hopefully it's some kind of mistake, but very unlikely it isn't.

 

[OzExorcist]

Yeah. I'm willing to believe it was something he took to aid in the recovery from his broken leg, and he had a negative test come in two weeks later. But he still screwed up big time...

And I'd say it was gonna tarnish his reputation but really, people still love them some Vitor / Cyborg / Josh Barnett (dude walks out to Bolt Thrower, how can I not love him?!?) loads of others who've been pinged for PEDs, so maybe we'll all forget about this in a year's time.

 

[Suited Frenzy]

Yeah. I'm willing to believe it was something he took to aid in the recovery from his broken leg, and he had a negative test come in two weeks later. But he still screwed up big time...

And I'd say it was gonna tarnish his reputation but really, people still love them some Vitor / Cyborg / Josh Barnett (dude walks out to Bolt Thrower, how can I not love him?!?) loads of others who've been pinged for PEDs, so maybe we'll all forget about this in a year's time.

Yeah, I'm still a fan of a couple athletes who have used before but there are some I absolutely can't stand anymore.
All that money, fame & attention & they still feel the need to cheat? Makes absolutely no sense to me.

It's like most things in life. You may forgive someone for doing harm to you or something stupid but you'll never forget (@ least for me).

 

[OzExorcist]

To a certain extent, I think we'll probably look back on this period in MMA in much the same way we now look back at the bad old days of professional cycling in the 90s - everyone was doping because, well, everyone was doping and you almost had to do it to keep up. If Lance Armstrong had've just admitted to it he'd probably be viewed in a completely different light now.

That doesn't excuse doping, obviously. And it's obviously MUCH more dangerous for MMA fighters to be doping, given the damage they could be doing to each other as well as their own health. But it does go some way towards making it (I shudder to think this) "understandable".

Hell, until just last year the UFC basically endorsed doping via TRT exemptions. None of the guys using it - not Sonnen, Hendo, Vitor or anyone else AFAIK had an actual, legit medical condition that necessitated using it. Sonnen at least tried to pretend he had a real reason by using big words. Vitor didn't even do that.

When the company you work for is saying "these guys get a free pass to dope because they pull big viewer numbers"... again, I'm not saying it's right, but at the same time you can understand why some others thought they needed some help catching up...

 

[OzExorcist]

That said, just like I'm sure cycling fans are glad that awful period in their sport's history is over, I can't wait for this one to be over for MMA, because:

Hector Lombard tested positive for steroids too, and his fight with Rory MacDonald is off

*le sigh*

 

[OzExorcist]

So the more I think about it... the more I can't understand how Benson Henderson is getting close to even money with the bookies this weekend.

He's on a two-fight losing streak and he's moving UP a weight class, less than a month after a loss, to fight a guy that's taller than him, and has the reach advantage, and has serious KO power.

If it were anyone other than Benson we'd be calling this a squash match. It'd be like Fabio Maldonado going up to heavyweight only to get crushed by Stipe Miocic.

But because he's a former champion people thinks he's a solid chance, and because he seems like basically a nice guy, nobody wants to say otherwise. I'm gonna say something blasphemous here: his run as lightweight champion wasn't all that impressive. Two of his three title defences were split decisions, one (along with the fight where he won the belt) against a guy who's since dropped to featherweight.

And more than that, I'm really not sure his head is right for this fight, heard an interview he did with Ariel Helwani the other day where he said he took the fight not really knowing anything about his opponent, and all he'd really done in the interim was take a quick look at his highlight reel. Taking a fight on this short notice isn't normal for him, and taking it after a loss is unprecedented. He's only fought once on this short of a break, back at the start of his career... and it resulted in his first ever loss.

On the flipside, what knocks can you really put on Brandon Thatch? His strength of competition hasn't been great, true. That would concern me if he had a mix of wins and losses. But he's been crushing people. He's never gone five rounds either (mostly because he's finished his fights in the first round), but he's known all along this fight would be five rounds so there's no reason to think he's not prepared...

I'm backing Thatch in this one.

 

[Suited Frenzy]

That said, just like I'm sure cycling fans are glad that awful period in their sport's history is over, I can't wait for this one to be over for MMA, because:

Hector Lombard tested positive for steroids too, and his fight with Rory MacDonald is off

*le sigh*

Ugh. This is getting to be a bit much & just plain ridiculous hearing about one after another.

So the more I think about it... the more I can't understand how Benson Henderson is getting close to even money with the bookies this weekend.

He's on a two-fight losing streak and he's moving UP a weight class, less than a month after a loss, to fight a guy that's taller than him, and has the reach advantage, and has serious KO power.

If it were anyone other than Benson we'd be calling this a squash match. It'd be like Fabio Maldonado going up to heavyweight only to get crushed by Stipe Miocic.

But because he's a former champion people thinks he's a solid chance, and because he seems like basically a nice guy, nobody wants to say otherwise. I'm gonna say something blasphemous here: his run as lightweight champion wasn't all that impressive. Two of his three title defences were split decisions, one (along with the fight where he won the belt) against a guy who's since dropped to featherweight.

And more than that, I'm really not sure his head is right for this fight, heard an interview he did with Ariel Helwani the other day where he said he took the fight not really knowing anything about his opponent, and all he'd really done in the interim was take a quick look at his highlight reel. Taking a fight on this short notice isn't normal for him, and taking it after a loss is unprecedented. He's only fought once on this short of a break, back at the start of his career... and it resulted in his first ever loss.

On the flipside, what knocks can you really put on Brandon Thatch? His strength of competition hasn't been great, true. That would concern me if he had a mix of wins and losses. But he's been crushing people. He's never gone five rounds either (mostly because he's finished his fights in the first round), but he's known all along this fight would be five rounds so there's no reason to think he's not prepared...

I'm backing Thatch in this one.

I agree that it's strange on both points. 1 being that he's taking this fight on such short notice & after 2 straight losses. I'm beginning to think he's fighting only for money now. He might be afraid (especially after 2 straight losses) that his career might end earlier than he thought. Who knows though. These guys have been hit in the head soooo many times (& hit hard) that I'm not quite sure what they're thinking anymore.

& as far as the even money goes for the fight, I'm quite confused on that as well. The same things you pointed out are the things that make me wonder "wtf are they thinking when they did that?".

 

[martymart48]

UFC

Tomorrow .

 

[OzExorcist]

So this isn't an even money fight according to the bookies any more - Thatch in to below $1.70 at some books... got my bet on when he was paying $1.90, fingers crossed!

 

[KUN_AGUERO_KROOS]

1) welterweight debut
2)size difference
3)short notice
4)rear-naked choke
5)Ben henderson is the man

 

[goodhandluke]

Mma is nothing like cycling

Mma most of these guys are naturally roid heads. Like if a big guy doesnt make it to the nfl its kindve like well theres ufc..

Cycling is morw of a classy sport, they do blood oxygenation anyways not roids

But nobody in mma on roids,was good anyways, silva is overrated imo

Fedor never did roids and hes the goat. Bit thats before this joke of cagefighting ruined mixed martial arts. Thats why i still say boxing is and will be a better sport because its skilled guys not strong guys

I mean thr ufc has title fights whwre a guy is 3-2 and has a title shot? Gimme a break...

Go into a boxing gym. Go into an mma gym. These mma guys think their tougy shit. They arent very disciplined in their arts. Go to japan and youll see real martial arts mannnn and im sure theyd get their ass whooped too

I mean randy couture is like .500 in his career and is im the hall of fame

Its more like a sport for beer drinkers who just want to see ppl get hurt. Boxing is a,sweet science

 

[martymart48]

Henderson

1) welterweight debut
2)size difference
3)short notice
4)rear-naked choke
5)Ben henderson is the man

Henderson Vs Thatch good figth .

4 good Round .

 

[WVHillbilly]

Fedor fought in Pride where juicing was pretty openly ignored and supposedly even encouraged. I'd be pretty surprised if he never did anything. Let's just leave it at he was never caught.

 

[OzExorcist]

Mma is nothing like cycling

Mma most of these guys are naturally roid heads. Like if a big guy doesnt make it to the nfl its kindve like well theres ufc..

Cycling is morw of a classy sport, they do blood oxygenation anyways not roids

But nobody in mma on roids,was good anyways, silva is overrated imo

Fedor never did roids and hes the goat. Bit thats before this joke of cagefighting ruined mixed martial arts. Thats why i still say boxing is and will be a better sport because its skilled guys not strong guys

I mean thr ufc has title fights whwre a guy is 3-2 and has a title shot? Gimme a break...

Go into a boxing gym. Go into an mma gym. These mma guys think their tougy shit. They arent very disciplined in their arts. Go to japan and youll see real martial arts mannnn and im sure theyd get their ass whooped too

I mean randy couture is like .500 in his career and is im the hall of fame

Its more like a sport for beer drinkers who just want to see ppl get hurt. Boxing is a,sweet science

*le sigh*

I didn't say that MMA was like cycling - like I said, the sports are very different and the consequences of doping are actually much worse in MMA. I definitely agree with Ronda Rousey on that point.

What I was actually saying was that that MMA fans will likely look back on this period of the sport's history in the same way that cycling fans look back at the bad old days in their sport.

Agree with Hillbilly, when it comes to the classic era of PRIDE you can say that guys weren't caught doping... but you probably wouldn't want to push your luck much further than that.

As for comparisons with boxing, it's not like boxing has a history of being PED-free either. And are you going to claim that nobody with a just-OK record has ever competed for a title in boxing? That there's never been a boxing match that was put on for the money instead of sporting merit? That Floyd Mayweather has spent the past few years fighting the best of the best, not hand-picking opponents (and the conditions on which he fights them) to maximise his chance of winning?

Give me twenty minutes or so while I go roll around on the floor laughing at those ideas

 

[OzExorcist]

Barboza v Johnson is standing out to me as probably the most interesting fight on this weekend's card, anyone got any thoughts on it? Barboza is a slight favourite with the bookies right now.

I haven't seen a lot of Johnson's fights but he doesn't have much of a history of submission wins... I dunno, can anyone see a clear path to victory for him over an excellent striker like Barboza? Other than one that relies on whacky Brazilian judges decisions? He comes from an excellent camp, but he hasn't fought in almost a year and he's giving up slight height and reach advantages.

Meanwhile, the case against Anderson Silva is looking worse and worse. Turns out it wasn't just prefight or out of competition, he failed his test on fight night too: http://www.mmafighting.com/2015/2/1...ested-positive-for-three-banned-substances-in

 

[martymart48]

UFC

I take for BiG Foot For Fun . I Like K.O.

78% k.o. For BiG Foot .

I want to see this fight Sunday .