Serious question for those who have such contempt for fighters roiding. If the fight is not overseen by a sanctioning body, and the promotion has no rules against steroid use, is it OK? Or does a fighter have a moral obligation to enter a fight clean, and perform as he is naturally rather than as a chemically-enhanced superior version of himself? If everyone does it, does that make it OK and should your fighting legacy and standing/respect in the eyes of fans be unaffected by your drug use? :think :hat
Are you being serious here? I'll assume you are. It's never OK to cheat. Regardless of the level, and regardless of how many others are doing it. Do you think if Lance Armstrong had played the 'but everybody else was taking drugs too' card the authorities would have let him keep his 7 tour de France victories? Not in a million years :-(
Then by that rationale, every fighter who roided should be viewed with the same disdain as Bonnar is. :good :hat
Every case needs to be heard - innocent until proven guilty and all that - but I don't see 'everybody else is doing it' as any kind of legitimacy. Image going to court charged with theft and saying in your defence that 'lots of other people are stealing property out there'. That would really help your cause wouldn't it :-(
Maybe I'm missing your point but everyone in this thread is saying all fighters who get caught roiding should be banned for life or at least on the second occasion.
I can't understand how people can call Bonnar a disgrace for being caught roiding twice, and then turn around and say that Coleman (for example) should be in the HOF. :conf Surely it should be one or the other. A guy like Coleman was blatantly roided out of his skull, but it generally seems to be viewed as an amusing triviality. Seems to me that either roiding is OK, or it isn't. :conf :good :hat
Not in yours, sure. :good But in the eyes of many MMA "experts", it is a significant double standard. :-( :hat
In a general sense. Many legends of the sport were serious steroid abusers. But they fought in times and organizations where they weren't tested, so their careers and legacies weren't harmed by it. In fact, they were often helped, because win or lose they performed at a higher level than they would have otherwise been able to reach. Seems two-faced to me to **** all over Bonnar for roiding, and then turn a blind eye to other guys who were doing exactly the same thing, oftentimes apparently to an even greater extent. :conf :hat
No organization mandated steroid use. Some may be or may have been more relaxed about the issue than others, but the decision to roid or not is one that an individual fighter makes. Not an organization. :good :hat
I agree with spidey a cheat is a cheat and should be frowned upon but for one we have the hindsight of those guys never killing someone or seriously injuring them in the cage/ring (that I know of I could be completely wrong there). Furthermore, in those orgs almost everyone was on something so it became less of an issue. If a guy choses to have a **** diet and **** prep for a fight he might get hurt as a result. Thats a choice thats on him thats part of the sport. If a guy gets an advantage because he broke the rules and the other fighter didnt that is cheating.
