Issue 066

September 2010

When a ‘roided up Major League Baseball player steps into the batter’s box and crushes a game-winning homerun 450 feet into a grandstand full of adoring fans, that’s cheating.

When a blood-doping cyclist outrides his peers for three weeks through the French countryside, puts on a yellow jersey and takes a bouquet of flowers at the finish line, that’s cheating.

But when a mixed martial artist locks himself in a cage with another human being a few weeks after utilizing any type of performance-enhancing drug or procedure, that’s downright criminal.

Professional boxer Floyd Mayweather recently made quite the stir when his insistence on the utilization of ‘Olympic-style’ drug testing eventually led to the dissolution of a potential big-money fight with fellow superstar Manny Pacquiao. (Put simply, ‘Olympic-style’ testing is random and tests urine and blood. The current system only tests urine just after a bout). While many observers criticized ‘Pretty Boy Floyd’ for his choice and used the entire situation as yet another reason to decry the “death of boxing”, Mayweather drew attention to an important topic in combat sports.

How can we catch the cheaters?

The Nevada State Athletic Commission, widely considered one of the world’s top athletic institutions – especially when it comes to the regulation of combat sports – recently invited a panel of experts to speak about the evolution of cheating in sport. The financial rewards now available in the world of professional sport have driven those looking for an edge to develop substances and techniques far beyond simple steroid use. And while there were some conflicting ideas presented to the NSAC regarding what can and should be done to curtail potential cheats, as evidence was put forward it became increasingly apparent that the potential for abuse of the system is rampant.

Quite simply, while intentions and efforts currently in place are a positive sign, athletic commissions and regulatory bodies around the globe aren’t doing enough.

Human growth hormone (HGH) is detectable only through blood tests, which are not currently administered by any regulatory bodies. There are challenges to blood testing to be sure, not the least of which are cost, the relatively small window of one to two days in which the substance is detectable, and the potential for infection or other complications by using needles to draw the sample. But are the risks worth the reward of ensuring a level playing field for two combatants looking to inflict bodily harm on one another?

Of course they are.

Current UFC fighter and 13-year-veteran Dennis Hallman recently proclaimed on HDNet’s Inside MMA program that as many as half of all current mixed martial artists are on steroids. Of course, Hallman, himself, was busted in 2007 after testing positive for drostanolone and nandrolone following a Strikeforce fight. But assuming his claim wasn’t made with some sort of ulterior motive in mind, shouldn’t that estimation alarm every fan of (and for that matter participant in) the sport? Fighters are checked closely before they step in the cage to ensure they aren’t carrying any sort of objects or weapons into the cage. Shouldn’t we also be more closely screening for synthetically developed fighters?

The Ultimate Fighter 12 coaches, Georges St Pierre and Josh Koscheck each recently told MMAjunkie.com they would be willing to submit to the ‘Olympic-style’ drug testing that is currently administered by the World Anti-Doping Agency. If both fighters are willing to suggest themselves to more rigorous standards, what’s the hold-up?

With those two combatants staring at a likely December meeting, it’s still unknown exactly where the two will fight. UFC officials have mentioned both St Pierre’s native Canada and Koscheck’s hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as potential venues. Until a site is picked, it’s impossible to know what commission would oversee the contest, but the UFC could certainly pick up wherever those bodies left off.

It’s not without precedent. The UFC currently drug-tests its own athletes when the promotion travels abroad, though the company’s process is (like the athletic commission’s) strictly urine-based, and it’s only done following competition.

In other words, it’s a completely predictable – and therefore beatable – system.

Mixed martial arts needs blood testing. Athletes also need to be tested frequently in the off-season, not just when they show up on fight night. No-notice testing should be implemented to prevent fighters from utilizing masking agents or other strategies to beat the system. Erythropoietin (EPO) should be among the substances tested, and processes such as blood transfusions need to be monitored.

In short, if the sport is clean, let’s prove it. And if it’s not, then let’s clean it up.

Baseball greats Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco and countless others tarnished their reputation irreparably through the use of performance-enhancing drugs. The honor of cycling has been tarnished irreparably by an alarming rate of contestants testing positive for a variety of cheating techniques. Mixed martial arts regulators need to take every conceivable step to ensure someone’s health isn’t tarnished irreparably by the attacks of a synthetically engineered opponent – and that the already controversial sport of MMA keeps its head held high.

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