A Different Look At The Steriod Issue

by JasonComack

“If this was baseball, we’d be having Congressional hearings,” stated California State Athletic Commission executive director, Armando Garcia on the rising number of positive drug tests around MMA. “Last year if I remember the stat correctly, it was 25% (of fighters that tested positive for illegal drugs in California MMA events)

I sat at my desk incessantly refreshing the internet waiting for a something to grab me and lead me in a direction.  After enough clicking and refreshing I finally had found my motivation.

MMAWeekly’s headline story was that Hermes Franca had tested positive for a banned substance, refreshing the page not five minutes later we learned that Sean Sherk had tested positive for steroids. Franca and Sherk had just fought each other in a lightweight title fight at the last UFC pay per view.

Now for those who don’t know MMA is mixed martial arts.  I write about it a lot.  I t think more of the public needs to be educated about MMA.  It’s more than just the stereotype of “ultimate fighters”.  These guys are athletes who train harder than you can ever imagine.  I personally train myself; I have entered grappling competitions before and have had to cut weight.  So I have a general understanding of what these athletes go through and trust me it’s not fun.

In MMA there has been a recent trend of many name fighters testing positive for banned substances.  Most recently ex-NFL player Johnnie Morton tested positive after his fight, on the same card Royce Gracie tested positive as well.  Gracie is to MMA what Babe Ruth is to baseball.  He built the UFC.  To see such an icon test positive is befuddling and alarming.

Here’s a stat from Sherdog.com

Twenty-eight fighters licensed by California have violated the state's anti-doping policy from March 31 through July 6 of this year, the California State Athletic Commission revealed Wednesday. Of those caught for various steroid and drugs-of-abuse violations, over 71 percent came from mixed martial arts, this despite 14 fewer cards than boxing and kickboxing combined.

Now that’s just in California.  That doesn’t include Vegas where most MMA events are held.

Morton, Gracie, Baroni, Bonner and now Franca and Sherk, This is more than a trend this is an epidemic.

When a fighter gets caught his first instinct is to deny.  Franca, however has taken a different approach

Franca took the issue head on.  He actually has released a statement before his test results have come out.  Here’s his statement. (EDITORS NOTE: Sherk has yet to release a statement about his positive test)

In the next few days, the results from the California Commission will be released. The tests will show that I had a "banned substance" in my system. I would like to apologize to my fans, the UFC, my students and family. I offer only an explanation and not an excuse. I made a decision during a difficult time in my training for the fight that I regret. About 8 weeks out from the fight, I badly injured my ankle during a training session. For the following week I had rested it, rehabbed it and tried to work around the injury. It was obvious that I could not train as required. I contacted the UFC and explained my injury and how I could not possibly train to the level I thought I would need in order to be properly prepared for my fight. I asked the UFC if we could push the fight out to the following UFC with the chance that it could happen. They explained that they could not do that and that the card had been set and it isn’t as easy as just moving around a fight. I totally understood their position. They asked me to keep them informed should I not be able to fight. I had not fought for 5 months. Fighting is literally how I put food on my wife and child’s table and how I pay my bills. As a fighter though, even at this level, I live a simple life and I literally live from fight to fight. Not getting a paycheck for another few months and losing my chance to fight Sean for the title was overpowering. Fighting is the life I chose and I love it. As a lightweight fighter, our purses are comparatively small. The public sees the payouts. As lightweights, we do not pull down the money anything near the bigger guys. It’s just the way it is. I think Sean fought and defended his title for less than $30,000. Its no ones fault, it’s just the market. I love the sport; I love the people in the sport. At this point I was desperate and needed anything I could to get my injury as close to healing as possible and be able to recover from the daily training regimen I was going through. I made the shortsighted choice to hopefully accelerate the healing process and allow me to keep training. Under the pressure of literally not being able to pay next months bills I made a choice. I had to fight and did whatever I could to do so. I hope my fans, students, the UFC and the public accept my sincere apology. Whatever punishment is dictated by the California Athletic Commission I will understand. I would like to get through this very difficult time and the times ahead and get back to fighting. All the best to my fans and much thanks to my family and friends that continue to support me during these times.

It’s difficult to read this and not feel sympathetic.  A lot of UFC fighters make the majority of their money from endorsements and other bonuses not included in paychecks.  Franca isn’t a highly exposed fighter.  Only hardcore MMA fans would know anything about him.  Clearly the UFC wasn’t going to put a lot of money into a guy no one knows.  However the UFC should.

The UFC should take better care of its fighters.  These are fighters, many of whom are living fight to fight.  Compare them to athletes in other major sports. Look at Yankees pitcher Carl Pavano.  He’s getting 10 million this year to not pitch.  What about ex Knick/Blazer guard Steve Francis.  The Blazers just paid him 30$ million not to play.  Now the UFC isn’t as profitable as the NBA or MLB but Franca can’t even get 30k guaranteed.  Also, unlike all other major sports he isn’t getting a salary.  He’s getting paid from fight to fight.  Imagine a pitcher getting paid from start to start.  I’m not justifying it, but I can understand why these guys would turn to performance enhancing drugs.

What’s evident is the UFC has a problem that needs to be fixed.  Clearly the threat of testing isn’t enough.  On a fight card not all fighters get tested.  However all main event/title fight fighters do.  Franca and Sherk both knew they were going to be tested.

So what can be done?  I’m not sure to be honest.  As mentioned the UFC should take better care of its fighters but that’s not the only problem.  It’s a problem with our society in general.  Everyone strives for perfection.  In such a competitive sport obviously everyone is going to be looking for that edge.  It’s the same in baseball and football.

I’ve also only mentioned steroids.  I haven’t even talked about fighters like Nick Diaz and Diego Sanchez who both tested positive for marijuana and Melvin Guillard and Carter Williams who both tested positive for cocaine.

I know one thing for sure if mixed martial arts is ever to going to be as mainstream as boxing or any other major sport it’s going to need to get its drug problem under control.