PEDs & MMA (and sports in general)

I thought I’d take the latest drug test failures as an excuse for taking a foray into the subjective side of MMA mixed with some opinion and philosophy, something we don’t commonly do here.

When I think of PEDs in sports, the first thing that comes to mind (chronologically) is a group gathering I had with some friends circa-2001.  Realize, this was before “the cream” and “the clear”, before BALCO made the headlines and before Lance Armstrong taught us that cycling is a “dirty” sport.  At this point, we had just gotten past the discovery of those pills with the really long name that Mark McGwire had in his locker.  As we watched whatever sport we were watching, I turn to the room and say something to the effect of: “I bet most of these guys are juicing.”  After saying this, I almost got laughed out of the room.  OK, it wasn’t that bad, it was more like, “Yeah right, you just wish you were that big.”

Then we saw sports legends like Barry Bonds and Lance Armstrong go down in the coming years.  Fast-forward to now and we’ve seen so many more sports stars fail tests that my fearless prediction seems more probable.

There are still some that either don’t have an accurate perspective of “real life” or are still within an illusion that only bad people would do drugs or that everyone who is a professional athlete is honorable.  I myself think that nearly everyone will lie, cheat, and/or steal if in the “right” (or wrong) situation.  The ones that won’t are potentially the real schmoes.  I didn’t think this way 10 years ago, but I do now.  Life has a way of teaching you things you weren’t looking to learn.

Now, in terms of MMA, let’s say you’re Joe Schmoe — 34 years old, winning all of your fights on the regional circuit and 1 win away from getting that chance at the UFC.  You could then afford a home and will be able to start a family if you just win a few more times.  Or, let’s say you’re John Smith, you’ve lost 3 of your last 4, closing in on 40 and in serious debt.  How about an extra 5-10% of performance if you take this pill?  Good people can do “bad” things.  I’m sure leading philanthropists have mistresses and I’m sure award-winning surgeons have drug addictions.

But, how “bad” is using PEDs?  Sure, it’s against the rules, but how bad it is?  Given that MMA is a combat sport, it is quite honestly one of the worst sports to gain what is seemingly an unfair advantage, this I’ll admit.  After all, a little more performance allows one fighter to potentially apply more damage to his opponent and may even cause them to take more damage.  Though, what if nearly all of the top fighters are already doing it?  Peer pressure sucks, but what if big money is on the line and this is all you know?  Money that you need to live how you want to live?

Don’t underestimate peer pressure though.  I’ve had discussions with a formerly undefeated professional boxer who is now retired who openly admitted that he would do anything his coach suggested without hesitation — such as inserting an illegal object in his wraps (see: Antonio Margarito).  This was a person with a graduate-level degree with a family and employed as a teacher.  Now THIS isn’t cool in my opinion, but it is what it is.  It goes to show you how strong emotions can be.

I do have a problem with the above, but with regards to substances, I don’t have much of an issue with fighters taking substances during camp.  The one sole issue I have with that is a fighter in the Heavyweight division (who isn’t cutting weight) taking illegal substances to put on massive amounts of muscle mass that they take into the cage.  Being under the influence of substances during a fight is a different story altogether, but we hardly if ever have seen this. The only example I can think of, that was never proven, was the infamous “black bottle” incident in Pryor/Arguello I.

Now, to the brand new elephant sitting in the room — Anderson Silva’s failed drug test from 1/9/15.  Reports suggest he tested positive for Drostanolone and Androstane.  Drostanolone, more commonly known as Masteron is much more prominent than the latter.

I do know a little bit about anabolic steroids, but am far from an expert.  Either way, one of the most prevalent questions seems to be:  Has Anderson Silva always used, or was this a one time shot to more quickly return from a crippling injury?  In all likelihood, it seems to be the prior.  Now, I’m not saying I believe he always took anabolic steroids, but to be at the top of a professional sport for so long and into his late 30s seems nearly impossible without some external assistance.

My opinion, is that in an effort to return as quickly as possible, the intake of illegal substances was ramped up and potentially attained on the black market.  Getting a prescription for Masteron, one of the more exotic anabolic steroids AND it not making the news seems fairly unlikely.  What seems more likely is that his team attained the drugs from a “black market” source and it was tainted — potentially with unexpected substance(s) and/or forms with a longer half-life (esthers vs. propionates).  This, combined with the recent increase in out-of-competition testing was a death knell for Silva.

An interesting component to the whole “everyone is juicing” theory that I’m awaiting, is whether Georges St. Pierre comes back and how well he performs.  I’m not throwing him under the bus, but with one of the more impressive physiques in recent history, combined with his long period of dominance combined with the latest injury, inactivity and increasing age is an interesting comparison to what we’ve just seen go down, should he return.  And don’t forget the increased testing — is it coincidence that he doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to return?

Just because we know about some things that happen, doesn’t mean that there aren’t 100 times as many things happening that we don’t know about.  Either way, things are still happening.  Emotions are strong, circumstances are potentially stronger and all in all, consideration of this, a person’s mind and the world’s influence can make this a much easier pill to swallow.

Would a truly clean sport make for a much less interesting sport?  Something to think about…