Issue 110

January 2014

The Nevada State Athletic Commission didn’t exactly win the war on doping in mixed martial arts, but it deserves at least some praise after deciding to force three-time offender Josh Barnett to undergo World Anti-Doping Agency-certified random testing in advance of UFC 168.  

Heavyweight Barnett will also face random commission-supervised testing throughout 2014 as a condition of his licensure – and all of it at the UFC’s expense.  

The use of performance-enhancing drugs has become a real problem for the sport, and it’s about time someone steps up to the plate and tries to do something about it.  

While the NSAC’s decision will affect just two people, Barnett and his opponent Travis Browne who will join him in the process, it provides a real opportunity as a test case that can help establish protocols in the future.  

There will never be a day when every fighter is subjected to such strict testing. The cost and logistics unfortunately make such a task impossible. But the enormity of the challenge cannot be allowed as an excuse for doing nothing.  

Barnett’s tests won’t reshape the MMA community, but the NSAC – one of the most influential commissions in the sport – and the world’s largest promotion could both learn from the process and perhaps begin to institute a similar approach with a larger number of athletes. Something is always better than nothing.

WILL SENSE PREVAIL?

Can we please allow the UFC Fight Night 30 bout between Melvin Guillard and Ross Pearson to serve as incontestable evidence that the ‘three-point stance’ rule in MMA needs to be abolished as quickly as possible? 

I’m all for protecting a downed opponent. While there’s an argument to be made for allowing knees to the head of a grounded fighter, I’m fine with leaving them as a banned technique. And soccer kicks and stomps to the head have absolutely no place in the modern sport. But we need to make sure a downed opponent is exactly that: downed. Reaching your hand down to touch the canvas should not earn you that distinction.

In this particular instance, I can’t blame Pearson for reaching down with his hand. If it’s in the rules, you might as well take full advantage. And I don’t blame Marc Goddard for deeming Guillard’s ensuing knee as illegal, as even slow-motion replays left it difficult to tell whether or not the blow landed before or after Pearson touched the mat. 

But I will blame a ridiculous rule for robbing fans of what seemed certain to be a ‘Fight of the Night’ and also Guillard of money he would have made by booking a fight sooner than the UFC-ordered rematch which we’ll have to wait four months for so it can be hosted in England.

Let common sense dictate the obvious change, and let’s adjust the definition of a ‘downed opponent.’ And let’s pray everything goes according to plan in March so we can get the best Guillard vs. Pearson possible in the rematch.

TITLE SHOT FOR BELFORT?

It seems these days the popular stance to take on Vitor Belfort is a hard line against him competing in any championship fights, especially if they’re scheduled on Brazilian soil. But I have to admit, I’ve swayed to the exact opposite direction.  

After three straight impressive knockout wins in 2013, ‘The Phenom’ is due for his title shot. 

Just as I applaud the fact Barnett will undergo independent testing in the weeks and months ahead of UFC 168, I hope both the UFC and Belfort elect to schedule the bout that he’s earned in Nevada, where the commission can expose him to additional testing that may once and for all prove that Belfort is using – and not abusing – testosterone-replacement therapy, just as UFC president Dana White has suggested. 

I understand the NSAC’s position that a fighter who has previously tested positive for anabolic steroids should not be able to make up for the testosterone his body is no longer producing, but I’m not sure a conviction should also mean a lifelong sentence to compete at a disadvantage, as Belfort has previously mentioned. 

In multiple conversations with Vitor, he has told me he undergoes a battery of tests both in and out of training camp, and that he pays out of pocket for each of these screens.  

If he’s able to prove to the commission he truly is only leveling the playing field and not skewing it horribly in his favor then perhaps he can silence some critics.

And if he fails, then those who have stood against him can vindicate their claims. 

By John Morgan, former Fighters Only World MMA Awards ‘Journalist of the Year’