The biggest threat to mixed-martial arts has changed. No longer is it holier-than-thou types barking about how vicious it is or how it’s “human cockfighting”. I think we’ve turned that corner. Not a bit too soon either if you ask me. Fighting is universal, always has been. Is it brutal and painful at times? Yes, but these guys choose to do it. Some people apparently cannot grasp the concept that someone would feel a need push themselves, to see how far they can go and that they would be willing to push through some pain to get there. These selfsame people then go to work where they push their productivity to the maximum. In the big picture it’s kind of funny. Somewhere Friedrich Nietzsche is smirking in his grave.
Today’s hazard is the fighters themselves. These steel jawed duelists push themselves to the limit everyday in training so that when fight time comes they can open their hearts and pour every bit of themselves at their opponent in the hopes that time will prove that they had just a little bit more than he did. I respect that more than I could possibly convey to you guys. Fortunately, since you are reading this, you are more than likely a fight fan and if that’s the case then I am pretty sure you get it. Whew.
The threat comes from the fact that some of these guys are willing to do anything to get what they want. Relentless determination is to be prized but without integrity to shine a light on the proper path you wind up being the villain in your own story rather than the hero.
I can empathize a little. Who wants to put every ounce of themselves into something like this and find out they came just one iota short. What could possibly be more indicative of what you have inside you then a fight? It’s probably difficult to have to say to yourself, or someone else, “I just didn’t have what it took.” Really what else can you say? It’s mano e mano in that cage. Either you pull it off or you don’t, right? I’m sure a lot of these guys cringe more at that thought, and the stinging words of their detractors, more than they do at the prospect of eating a right hand from a guy sitting on their chest.
Dana White, head of the UFC, recently had an interview with ESPN the Magazine about this very issue in which he states bluntly that he would be hitting the fighters where it hurts, right in the wallet. Fail a drug screening and watch your purse dwindle down to the bare minimum. He makes reference to the Stephan Bonnar scenario where a fighter is put out of the UFC for a time and I quote, “don't make any money.”
My reaction is two-fold. Kudos, for stepping things up. This is a real issue and could effect the integrity of the whole UFC. If fans think things are set up then the interest in the fights becomes next to zilch. What about the other fighters? The guys that legitimately want to see how they stack up. Man to man, not man to chemically-enhanced man. It’s cheating plain and simple. Getting an advantage that the other cannot (legally) obtain is cheating. It was enough for Tim Sylvia to lose his belt a few years ago and rightfully so.
Now for the other side of the coin. Is a paycut enough to stop these guys? Stephan Bonnar was indeed out of the UFC for a while and I am positive lost significant money because of that. But let’s be realistic, he was working other shows around the country. Maybe not fighting but he’s getting paid just to show up. He still made money as a “pro athlete”.
Look at UFC Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk who tested positive after his dominant performance over Hermes Franca, who also tested positive, at the end of the day he’s still the champion of the largest MMA promotion, in the fastest growing sport in the
He gets a pay-cut but keeps his belt. Haven’t we learned anything from the bigger sports? Will our sport soon be overrun with chemically enhanced, freakishly athletic wanna-be warriors who are looking for the money and could care less about the spirit of the game? I’m not saying Sherk is this sort of creature, don’t get me wrong. He’s a guy who has put in his time and I have a lot of respect for him. That being said, it’s as simple as the fact that the NSAC has a sample of his urine that is beyond the limit therefore making him guilty until, and unless, he can prove otherwise. I understand that he is working to do just that and if he’s innocent then I hope he’s proven out and vindicated. For the time being though he’s a guy who doped. One of a burgeoning trend, and probably the highest profile guy at that.
In a fight to prove who was the better fighter (it just seems wrong in this case to say the stronger) he, probably more than any other MMA fighter ever, won by sheer power. He had the strength and explosiveness to shoot in and wrestle his opponent to the mat and then bodily control him for five rounds. That was it. That was how he won the fight and he cheated to get that power, that explosion. The likelihood that Sherk could have done these things without the ‘roids is pretty solid if you ask me but I really don’t think its possible for anyone that uses steroids to rely on them quite as heavily as what the champ did in his last win.
Does that deserve a belt?
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