I haven’t blogged in a couple weeks but there hasn’t been a lot going in MMA so I guess it was a good couple weeks to miss.
It’s kind of weird because you get used to so many cards happening and so many pay-per-views so to go a couple weeks without a major fight card it seems odd. I guess live Ultimate Fighter has filled the void for some people.
Obviously the big news happened on Wednesday with Alistair Overeem testing positive in a surprise drug test after the UFC 146 press conference. All I have to say is, is anybody really surprised?
I guess it may just shed light the fact that athletes are very good at cycling drugs out of their systems. I don’t know what he tested positive for, but I’m just speculating that it was something that he didn’t expect to show up in a drug test because he didn’t expect the drug test at that time.
Up until recently MMA athletes have always been tested on the night of the event. I think more recently in the past months they’ve started doing pre-fight testing for main event guys. Overeem was tested before his last fight because he needed to get licensed.
In this day and age with doctors and designer drugs, athletes are very good at determining when it’s in their system, when it’s out of their system, when they would test positive and when they’ll test negative. So I think out-of-competition drug testing is a good thing; it makes it a fair and even playing field. If you don’t know when you’re going to be tested, you’re rolling the dice and playing with fire if you take something.
It’s one thing if you know you’re fighting on May 15 and you know you’re going to be tested on May 15, then you can cycle the performance-enhancing drugs out of your system in time and test clean.
This isn’t by any means a new thing. This is how Ben Johnston got caught. He said had he been tested two days later, he would have passed the test. But the time he got his drug test was not when he thought he would.
I think if they did this type of random drug testing in any professional athletic league, it would change the scope of performance-enhancing drugs immensely. In the NFL for example, they’re tested, but I understand they’re told months in advance exactly what day and at what time they’ll be tested, so it’s easy to pass the tests.
I’m sure everyone out there is saying they knew it about Overeem. I won’t say I think it’s been a problem for a long time, but he’s a massive human being and let’s leave it at that. I don’t think it’s just the horse meat!
In a bit of good news, we’ve got another Canadian in the UFC as John Alessio is back. I’m happy for him. He’s worked extremely, extremely hard to get back to the UFC. It has been a big focus for him, so it’s nice to see the hard work pay off.
But he’s got himself a tough fight against Mark Bocek, and it’s unfortunate that it’s against another Canadian. There are so few Canadian fighters in the UFC, I hate to see them against each other, because there has to be one winner and one loser. Your success leads to a failure of a fellow Canadian.
I have experience with that, beating Joe Doerksen at the first UFC in Montreal, and what’s worse is he was released after the loss. We had a bit of a feud going into the fight, so at the time I wasn’t shedding any tears, but in hindsight, I hated to see it. We have so many fans in the huge country, but so few fighters and a pretty small number of us representing for a while now. It’s a little better now with so many cards, so they’re signing more talent, but still. Pick one of the big MMA camps in the U.S. and there’s probably less fighters from Canada as a whole than in one individual camp!
Having said that, I heard that Alessio actually called for a matchup with Bocek. That’s actually a smart strategy by John. If you think you’re worthy and think you deserve to be there, why not call out a top guy? If you beat him, it puts you right in the mix. It doesn’t make sense to go after a lower ranked guy. A win may keep you in the fold for one more fight but it doesn’t get you where you want to go.
Alessio is still pretty young but he’s been fighting for a long time. He fought in the UFC against Pat Miletich when I was just watching it!
I also read Sam Stout and Spencer Fisher are going to have their trilogy bout. Who wouldn’t be excited for that fight? The only thing I’m not excited about is the potential brain damage to my buddy Sam. But those fights were so exciting.
Lastly, here are a couple picks for Friday’s Bellator show in Windsor.
Ben Askren vs. Douglas Lima
I think that’s an interesting fight. Even though Lima won his last fight by knockout, we’ve got a predominantly high-level jiu-jitsu guy against a high-level wrestler. You’d think it would be a ground battle, but history shows us when we have these types of matchups they often tend to end up being standup battles. Lima has the advantage in the standup, but if Askren turns it into a wrestling match, I think he’ll take him down, hold him down, and grind out a win. It’s a good fight, one to watch. I’ll pick Askren.
Alexandre Bezerra vs. Marlon Sandro
I enjoy watching Sandro. He has explosive standup, he’s a big guy for that weight division. I’ll go with him. He’s a badass on the ground too. He’s well-rounded, a serious threat.
Bonus: Canadian picks
Chris Horodecki vs. Mike Richman
Wouldn’t matter who Horodecki was fighting, I’d still rooting for him so I’m going with Chris. He was always a chubby kid anyways, and now that he’s dropping down to featherweight, he’ll be a not-so-chubby kid. LOL! I’m only saying that because I would tease Chris in person.
Nordine Taleb vs. Matt Secor
I met Nordine on a couple occasions and I’ve seen him fight. I knew him when he trained with Denis Kang at Tristar and Denis spoke highly of him, so got go with the Canadian again.
Lastly, I just want to wish a Happy Easter to everyone. Have a nice holiday weekend.