I only recently found out that Chris Leben failed his drug tests after his fight with Michael Bisping. Ufc 89. I remember after the fight Michael Bisping being trashed in the forums, particularly on the American one's. that he was a coward, that he wouldn't stand and fight. And what a wonderful true American tough guy Chris Leben was. Michael fought a good technical fight winning on points. But during the fight many times Chris dropped his hands and mocked Michael for not standing and fighting. As a fairly keen fan, and this was the impression left in the memory, maybe I wasn't looking at the forums at this time, but I heard no mention of Chris failing a drugs test and I have watched every UFC since. It just seems a real injustice, Chris cheated and there was almost no consequences apart from a short ban. and next I see him fighting a highly regarded Japanese opponent who appears to be winning for most of the fight, but runs out of gas. but Chris Leben doest, and he wins. It really all stinks to high heaven.
We need blood and saliva testing and guys need to face serious bans for cheating. Peoples health is on the line.
Leben was banned for nine months and moved down the card. Between the Bisping fight and the Akiyama fight he had three matches. And I would hardly hold Japan up as a model of excellence when it comes to PEDs - at least America has testing, no matter how inadequate.
TBH all we reall need except for the main events where more money is on the line is off-season urine tests. The problem isn't that fighters are taking stuff that doesn't appear in urine tests (only the biggest stars can afford things like HGH) but that the test schedule is so predictable that fighters can cycle.
Well its certainly very expensive, I think most fighters would struggle to afford. I certainly think its not the real problem, which is that its ridiculously easy for fighters to cycle around tests.
It sure is. But dont think for a minute its out of the realms of possibility for the average guy. I know a ton of dudes at my gym on HGH. As for the tests they are very easy to circumvent providing you know what you're doing. Unless an Olympic style doping regime is employed i doubt where going to see much change other than the "real idiots" on gear getting caught.
ALL main events, ALL world title fights, ALL world title fights etc need to be subject to every level of testing. I know its expensive but up the licence fee to cover the cost of it. If an org can't cover the licence fee then they are in the wrong game and should not be recognised in anyway. Only a hardline approach will ensure guys stop using. Even 1 year off and a 2.5k fine is nothing to Sonnen. Its the sort of thing that can happen in a fighters career anyway. Bans should be from at least 3-5 years to life. Some guys will need to lose their prime etc Like Ali over Vietnam but instead over drugs.
Again I'm not against blood testing I just doubt that its as advanced as people think it is. Its our only way of catching HGH but that doesn't mean its a reliable way. The more important thing is to get proper out-of-competition drugs testing going. The problem is that unless all MMA and boxing promoters sign on to such stringent procedures (or the Commissions impose them) they'll never be introduced because promoters will be worried about their sport getting a reputation for being 'druggy' and competitors signing talent that want to fight in a less regulated environment.
Word to the mothership on that one. I feel at the moment that there is huge pressure to juice because a lot of fighters are doing it and seem to be getting away with it. Even if they'd just introduced random testing, that would put the wind up the cheats.
