When pride died so did the fighters.

There was no drug testing in Pride. I mean one or two I would consider an abberration but everyone sucked ass. So go figure.

 

yes, just like developing a tolerance to any other drug. old fashioned esterfied testosterone causes your shbg levels to get extremely high and from what i have read they can stay that way for years, possibly forever.

i think mark kerr is probably a good example of what happens when you go off. i dont know if he stopped the roids along with the opiates but if he did it makes sense when you look at his record.

 

Some of those guys came in on a clear downside, Gomi struggled in those inbetween years and CroCop ill always believe was shot mentally after the shocking Gonzaga KO he could never recover.

 

I can't believe all these people talking about steroid use, do you honestly believe Couture or Lesnar warrant any less suspicion?

People are ignoring the fact that fighters need time to go from ring to cage. The transition is hard as it takes time to understand the territory you are fighting on.

Just look at the first cage appearances of Shogun and Aoki, they looked shaky in the first fights but owned the 2nd. This will be reaffirmed imo in the Forrest Shogun II bout.

As for the other guys like Wandy and Cro Cop, many were already many years experienced when they came over, had taken some serious beatings and really only had a few good fights left in them.

 

read the posts, its the type of steroids they were probably using, not whether or not everyone else is using them. i definately agree pretty much everyone at the top is on whatever p.e.d.s they can get away with. lesnar will probably be buried in a toxic waste dump.

 

:thumbsup The cage is quite a different environment

 

+1 :happy

 

4. Pride killed their fighters. The one-night Grand Prix and stuff is nice for a fan but think of the damage that does to a fighter's body.

That said, Rampage Jackson and Shogun Rua have all won a UFC title after their Pride runs. And other fighters like Dan Henderson have had respectable results for what you'd expect of a fighter their caliber.

I agree. But it's a culture difference. In Japan, you can use steroids or not use steroids, Pride didn't care and the Japan body wasn't testing. In the U.S. now, they at least test you, as Chael Sonnen and Nate Marquardt amongst others can attest to.

 

Im not sure i even understand what your point is. Kerr was a drug addict. He cleaned himself up and went sober. No more hormones no more opiates. Absolutely his game was built on his drug addiction and he implied this himself in interviews. As for him developing a tolerance for it who knows. He was a massive 260lb beast in his prime and incredibly strong.

 

That's a load of rubbish mate. The UFC had the same format in the early days. Shamrock, Royce, Dan Severn, Hendo, Don Frye to name but a few were all products of it.
The GP's didn't neccesarily produce the best fighter but they absolutely produced the toughest fighter there was at the time. Look no further than Sakuraba who depite fighting Royce for an hour and a half went on to compete in the GP against Vovchancyn only for his corner to throw the towel in via injury/exhausation.
You must realise that PRIDE was bar none the toughest league in the world much less for the toughest league ever with the harshest rule set. These men went at it in bouts that were x 10 more violent than anything in current MMA. The wear and tear on their bodys due to years of combat is the reason for their demise which is expected in the hurt business. By the time PRIDE folded most of the stars were at the tail end of their careers. It's not any more complicated than that.

 

Yeah, and in almost all cases those fighters were not effective in the next generation of MMA, just like the Pride guys we're discussing here.

You mention Sakuraba. He was getting his ass handed to him by Marius Zaromskis on New Year's Eve before the fight got stopped, a guy that in the past year and a half has been knocked out inside a round by Nick Diaz and Evangelista Cyborg in Strikeforce, and also has a decision loss to Jordan Mein.

 

That's because they in fighters years are ancient. Especially Sakuraba who's a fossil. Surely you can see that? Or have you started watching MMA recently? ( No im not being facetious)

 

It's a shame to see alot of the PRIDE guys getting Koded, but guys like Nog and Wandy didnt exactly display the best reach knowledge and took too many big shots that takes it's toll. It's the way of combat sports that legends get made bitchblike by fighters they would have got the kod over in their primes

 

my point is that the drugs they were probably using cause a long term tolerance to your bodies own testosterone and throw the rest your endocrine system out of whack as well.