Undisclosed failed drug tests over the past year in California - Fight Forum - MMA - UFC - Boxing - K1

Gooner · 04-03-2007, 04:42 PM

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Welterweight UFC star Diego Sanchez is far from the only fighter to have a positive drug test in California that was not publicly disclosed at the time. MMAWeekly has obtained documentation indicating that nearly two-dozen MMA fighters have failed drug tests in the state of California over the past year without the drug test failures being publicly disclosed at the time.

Sanchez tested positive for marijuana following his December 13th victory over Joe Riggs in the main event of UFC Fight Night 7, but it wasn't until a March 22nd report by Carlos Arias of the Orange County Register that Sanchez' drug test failure was publicly announced or disclosed. When asked last week why the UFC did not acknowledge Sanchez' drug test failure on its web site, as it has for all other UFC drug test failures over the past year, the UFC did not respond.

The California State Athletic Commission, which also did not announce or disclose Sanchez' drug test failure until March, has now provided MMAWeekly with a complete list of every MMA fighter who has tested positive for any banned substance in the state of California since the first legal MMA events were held in California in March 2006. Many of these drug test failures have not previously been publicly disclosed.

Legally, this information is public record; there is no right to privacy or confidentiality for any fighter who tests positive for any banned substance. If a fighter takes a banned substance and tests positive for it, he or she can expect to be fined or suspended, and for the drug test failure to be publicly disclosed.

In addition to 31 professional boxers in the same time period, 23 mixed martial artists tested positive for banned substances in the past year, and the complete list of these fighters can be found below.

Over the past year in the state of California, the punishments have been a three-month suspension and $500 fine for any fighter who tests positive for marijuana; or a six-month suspension and $1,000 fine for any fighter who tests positive for any banned substance other than marijuana (or a combination of marijuana and other banned substances). These punishments escalate for repeat offenders.

In a neighboring state, Nevada, drug-related suspensions are taken on a case-by-case basis, but in general the suspensions have been six months for any fighter who tests positive for marijuana; or eight to twelve months for any fighter who tests positive for any banned substance other than marijuana.

There are many fighters who don't fight more often than once every three months under normal circumstances, so a three-month suspension for these fighters may or may change their fighting schedule in any tangible way.

You may notice in the list below that not a single fighter tested positive for steroids over the past year in California. This is because there has been no steroid testing in California over the past year. This will change in April 2007, according to California State Athletic Commission Executive Officer Armando Garcia, who said, "No steroid policy has ever been in place in California. Obviously, I was not satisfied by this." Starting in April, a total of approximately 25 fighters per month will be tested for steroids in California, and any fighter who tests positive for steroids will be suspended for six months and fined $2,500.

The list below is in chronological order, with each item containing the date and name of the event, the name of the fighter who tested positive for a banned substance, the substance(s) for which the fighter tested positive, brief notes on the substance(s) if warranted, and the length of the fighter's suspension (which is consistently three months for marijuana and six months for anything other than marijuana).

California State Athletic Commission Positive Drug Tests for MMA Fighters

-March 10, 2006: Strikeforce; Cesar Gracie tested positive for Delta 9 THC (active ingredient in marijuana); suspended for 3 months

-May 13, 2006: International Cage Fighting Organization; Tim McKenzie tested positive for Benzodiazepines (frequently found in anti-anxiety drugs and muscle relaxants); suspended for 6 months

-June 3, 2006: Extreme Wars 3; Anthony Ruiz tested positive for Delta 9 THC (active ingredient in marijuana); suspended for 3 months

-June 9, 2006: Strikeforce Revenge; Harris Sarmiento tested positive for Delta 9 THC (active ingredient in marijuana); suspended for 3 months

-June 15, 2006: WEC 21; Joe Hurley tested positive for Delta 9 THC (active ingredient in marijuana); suspended for 3 months

-June 15, 2006: WEC 21; Ryan Healy tested positive for Delta 9 THC (active ingredient in marijuana); suspended for 3 months

-June 17, 2006: Invincible- Fists of Fury; Randal Limond tested positive for Delta 9 THC (active ingredient in marijuana); suspended for 3 months

-July 1, 2006: Gladiator Challenge 51; Emmanuel Newton tested positive for Delta 9 THC (active ingredient in marijuana); suspended for 3 months

-July 15, 2006: Total Combat 15; Shawn Bias tested positive for Benzodiazepines (frequently found in anti-anxiety drugs and muscle relaxants); suspended for 6 months

-July 22, 2006: World Fighting Alliance; Bas Rutten tested positive for Hydrocodone (prescription painkiller), Morphine (prescription painkiller), and Diphenhydramine (antihistamine with common brand name Benadryl); suspended for 6 months

-July 22, 2006: World Fighting Alliance; Lodune Sincaid tested positive for Cannabinoids/Marijuana Metabolite; suspended for 3 months

-August 12, 2006: Warrior Cup; Chuck Booz tested positive for Delta 9 THC (active ingredient in marijuana); suspended for 3 months

-August 18, 2006: Pangea Fights 2; Aaron Brink tested positive for Cannabinoids (substances found in cannabis) and Benzodiazepines (frequently found in anti-anxiety drugs and muscle relaxants); suspended for 6 months

-August 19, 2006: California Xtreme Fighting 3; Mike Penalber tested positive for Amphetamine; suspended for 6 months

-August 19, 2006: Total Fighting Alliance; Jesse Romero tested positive for Delta 9 THC (active ingredient in marijuana); suspended for 3 months

-September 30, 2006: Chaos in the Cage; Paul Mince tested positive for Delta 9 THC (active ingredient in marijuana); suspended for 3 months

-September 30, 2006: Xtreme International Kombat; Ty Montgomery tested positive for Delta 9 THC (active ingredient in marijuana); suspended for 3 months

-October 26, 2006: Valor Fighting; Jamiah Williamson tested positive for Delta 9 THC (active ingredient in marijuana); suspended for 3 months

-November 4, 2006: Cage Combat Fighting Championships; Joe Hurley tested positive for Delta 9 THC (active ingredient in marijuana); suspended for 6 months as a repeat offender

-November 4, 2006: Total Combat 18; Shad Smith tested positive for Delta 9 THC (active ingredient in marijuana); suspended for 3 months

-November 17, 2006: Beatdown in Bakersfield; Ricco Rodriguez tested positive for Benzoylecgonine (major metabolite of cocaine) and Delta 9 THC (active ingredient in marijuana); suspended for 6 months

-December 13, 2006: UFC Fight Night 7; Diego Sanchez tested positive for Delta 9 THC (active ingredient in marijuana); suspended for 3 months

-February 17, 2007: Cage Combat Fighting Championships; Nate Loughran tested positive for Delta 9 THC (active ingredient in marijuana); suspended for 3 months

Some recognizable names there...
LOL @ Cesar Gracie getting high in his camp with Diaz.

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RockemSockem · 04-03-2007, 04:49 PM

WAR potheads! Imo there's no reason to blow up about it, although many disagree. I got a good laugh at Cesar as well. A bit scary to hear Ricco testing positive for Cocaine though. Stick to the organics my friend. Weed and shrooms for the win.

Gooner · 04-03-2007, 04:55 PM

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Originally Posted by RockemSockem

WAR potheads! Imo there's no reason to blow up about it, although many disagree. I got a good laugh at Cesar as well. A bit scary to hear Ricco testing positive for Cocaine though. Stick to the organics my friend. Weed and shrooms for the win.

C'mon man, dude's got a lot of weight to lose.

But seriously, I agree with all of that.

AikaImmortal · 04-03-2007, 04:55 PM

What is crazy is that they didnt test for steriods up until this year

RockemSockem · 04-03-2007, 04:56 PM

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Originally Posted by Gooner

C'mon man, dude's got a lot of weight to lose.

Lmfao, touche.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AikaImmortal

What is crazy is that they didnt test for steriods up until this year

Yea wtf? Why bother to test for weed and not steroids. Even a child can create a system that makes more sense.

AikaImmortal · 04-03-2007, 04:56 PM

Oh, and Joe Hurley loves the weed.

King Kameamea · 04-03-2007, 05:02 PM

Why do they test for pot anyway? I wouldn't exactly call it a performance enhancer.

I heart LNP · 04-03-2007, 05:02 PM

Insane that they tested for weed and not roids.

Pitbull · 04-03-2007, 05:06 PM

Corey · 04-03-2007, 05:17 PM

Yeah, that is a little ridiculous, weed is harmless in my opinion unless used in excess like alcohol. Roids, on the other hand, should be more punishable in my opinion.

AikaImmortal · 04-03-2007, 06:03 PM

Bas commented over at Sherdog right after the WFA fight (in regards to his fighting with rib/ACL injuries and whatnot.. also regarding what was on the list as failing, months ago.. so we can put to rest that he took a morphine shot right before the fight):

Words from me…..

Imagine having a tooth infected and you go to the dentist to let it taken out on the same day that you fight. Are you illegal now because the dentist gave you the same local pain killer that you get when they do it in your chest? I don’t think so.

But it doesn’t matter; a local pain killer is not the same as steroids. But even if it was, I DIDN’T use the painkiller in my chest because they (the athletic commission) told me that it is not legal, it’s very simple! Paul Lazenby already said the same thing. The same as the commission says that you can NOT use steroids, I don’t use them. I would never use them anyway because they work against you.

I told the people from the WFA to tell the commission that I don’t care if Kimo took roids and that I still wanted to fight him, because again, they work against you. You are strong, but only for a short amount of time and than you blow up. But the commission couldn’t do that of course.

Also, people who take roids take them for a reason, what would it be? (other than recouping from an injury and prescribed by a doctor) They call this insecurity. And please, don’t tell me that you took stanozolol in May and they caught you with that now, because stanozolol is “water based” and will be out of your system in about 2 or three weeks. How I know that? I did my home work after this whole thing happened because I knew that he would make stories up like this. Plus lets not forget that this is his second time that he gets caught, I mean, common.

Steroids are illegal when you fight, it is that easy. It doesn’t matter if you take it because the doctor prescribed it, who made that up?
What? So you CAN use GHB and drive a car just because your doctor prescribes it? No you can’t, and for the people who say now that the Doctor won’t prescribe GHB, well, he DOES when you have narcolepsy.
You buy a beer in the bar (which is legal if you are over the legal age) and than you drive a car. When the police stops you, just tell them that you have the legal age and that a bartender gave it to you and you are free to go??? I don’t think so either.

There are way more examples that I can give but you already feel that I don’t have to go there.

Now some other facts. Muscle relaxers slow you down, Valium is one of them and of course Soma (and many more), but trust me, you don’t want to fight on those because the same as with pain killers like vicodin, norco, all the other ones, you slow down a lot. You actually should praise the fighters who are on that and do good. I repeat: “and do good” because fighting on that stuff slows you about 20% down. It’s like fighting on marijuana or sleeping pills.

Other pain killer would be cortisone steroids, but they actually break you down, they break down muscle tissue and also BONES! So they make you actually more vulnerable.

I am not against steroids, they can use them all day long, it’s their body not mine. Do you guys actually know how they work? Here we go:
Normally when you want to get bigger, you “break down your muscles” with power training, and everything in your body that you break down will come back stronger. Same as when you break a bone, it will NEVER break on the spot where it healed (if you gave it the time to heal properly of course) because it will be stronger there.
Now, if you train every day power training and use the same muscle groups, your body can’t build itself up anymore because it needs TIME to heal to make it stronger.
That’s why you train your biceps not every day (same as with every other muscle groups).
Now, if you take steroids you recoup really freaky fast, so you CAN train the same muscle group every day. THAT is what roids do to you, that, and it also grows all the bad things in your body, bad tumors etc. (sucks he?) Why do you think so many body builders and power lifters leave this earth before their normal time is up?

Again, I really don’t care if they use them, but what I do care about is that when you use them and you get caught you drag a lot of people down with you, your trainer, manager, friends and wait a minute (this is why I am so angry about this) the person who you are suppose to fight! THAT is the reason.

One more time, steroids build you up and make you stronger, all the other stuff that I wrote about here doesn’t, some of them even make you weaker and slower.

That’s it, if people say that local pain killers are the same as steroids, you are wrong, that’s why they have also different names.
And one more time, I DIDN’T use the local pain killer.

Really the last thing, this is about Mark Kerr, so that stops also right here, and please, ask Mark Kerr about this yourself.
When he came to my gym to train for a fight, he had to be on the weigh scale first, why? Because I am not a moron, I KNEW he was using. I told him that if he would gain ONE pound, I would NOT train him anymore. Because it’s really simple, in my kind of training you can’t gain weight, not him, even when you are on steroids, because there is a lot of conditioning involved.
He never got bigger, why do you think that when he trained with me he NEVER lost and was in an unbelievable shape? Because he didn’t use that ****.

Hopefully this will end this, thanks to everybody who said the same stuff!

Have a good one guys, I am going in for surgery this week and after the surgery I am not intending to take steroids for my knee either, just so that you know.

Best wishes,

Bas

OneBigThrow · 04-03-2007, 10:33 PM

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-November 17, 2006: Beatdown in Bakersfield; Ricco Rodriguez tested positive for Benzoylecgonine (major metabolite of cocaine) and Delta 9 THC (active ingredient in marijuana); suspended for 6 months

Ol Ricco gettin' crunk aint he?? party hard mang!

Super Warrior · 04-03-2007, 11:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gooner

-July 22, 2006: World Fighting Alliance; Bas Rutten tested positive for Hydrocodone (prescription painkiller), Morphine (prescription painkiller), and Diphenhydramine (antihistamine with common brand name Benadryl); suspended for 6 months

Diphenhydramine, WTF? Someone please tell me that is not on the list of banned substances.

Banning allergy/sleep meds?

Dirty Fighter · 04-03-2007, 11:42 PM

That's why I like the NSAC better. You screw up and they will put your name out there. There is a higher shame factor in Nevada.

RebLMunkE · 04-04-2007, 12:29 AM

Bas's wasn't nothing Ricco with the coke is pretty bad though you don't see that much.........So many people smoke pot these days I can't be to shocked to see anyones name on a list so at least if they are getting busted for something it isn't something really bad.

Why would they not test for roids LoL that is like the first thang that they should have put on the list to ban.

name goes here · 04-04-2007, 02:39 AM

Coke could have some performance enhancing aspect. Improved reaction time

RockemSockem · 04-04-2007, 02:55 AM

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Originally Posted by name goes here

Coke could have some performance enhancing aspect. Improved reaction time

Meh. That's like saying death is a performance enhancer because you don't feel pain.

Crashsti · 04-04-2007, 11:36 AM

testing for THC but not steroids? this really puts an end to any faith i may have had in the AC's ability to prevent the use of performance enhancing substances.