Have your say. Also let me know if you think the camp should also face penalties for having fighters fail. Fighters are still able to appeal. Failed appeals typically result in longer suspensions.
I feel like, if you fail, and you lose an appeal (or don't appeal), you forfeit the money and take a year-long suspension. I don't like that guys are getting paid when they are failing. I understand you get paid to train not to fight but that isn't literally the case. If you fail I feel like your money should go back into the pool the NSAC or whatever commission has to fund additional testing. Make the system pay for itself until fighters aren't doping anymore. If you fail for PED's twice you are fucked. Or maybe you should just be banned? Should there be any leniency? This isn't a ball game this is hand-to-hand combat.
I think a minimum 1 year ban and higher fine needs to be in place for a first offense. 2nd offense needs to be 2 year ban, an even bigger fine than 1st offsense. 3rd offense = lifetime ban.
GSP and now Ronda Rousey are both on record saying PED's are like having a weapon in the cage. Fair to say they want tougher punishment.
A couple of years ago, a study discovered that some Alzheimers patients benefited from the use of LSD. This produced a predictable response, as many people argued that LSD was "evil" and that it was "dangerous" to admit it ever had medical value. I consider that argument foolish. If even one patient would benefit from using LSD, it should be legal for that specific patient to receive it. I feel the same way about steroids/hormones. How many fighters have rods/screws/plates in their body? How many fighters have used prescription pain meds that are far more dangerous than any steroid? Why aren't these medical procedures considered "cheating"? This is getting silly. If a fighter shows up high on Meth or PCP, then bring the hammer down. If they are using prescription meds without the proper paperwork, fine them. Otherwise, grow up and get over it! Did allowing TRT change the sport? Did making it illegal again change the sport? No and no.
If you need steroids for a medical reason, have at it. Frankly I don't care about drugs--take what you want, legalize everything. I do care about MMA being legitimate. I don't want guys using loaded gloves, I don't want girls taking mineral oil baths before a fight, and I don't want MMA going back to the dark ages with respect to gear. Cleaning up the sport is the only option going forward. If a large percentage of UFC fighters are on shit then the incentive outweighs the penalty. It needs to be rebalanced. The athletes need to fear the repercussions. Every cheater just saw Ando get busted. If he can get caught, anyone can. Nobody is protected. This is good!
I think the NCAA is fucking terrible on every level, but the one thing I think they get right that you could apply to this system is their 'death penalty' punishment for programs with serious violations. Adapting it to fighting, if you pop positive and a retest confirms it then you can't fight for the title no matter who you beat or where you rank for X number of years... I'm thinking 3 years. Combined with losing pay and a 1 year ban from fighting I think that would at least be a start to deterring some of the PED use. Losing the year and the money would be the big deterrent for guys just starting out without a real shot at earning a title shoot soon, but with the bigger name guys who can absorb the financial risk the prospect of being locked out of reaching the peak of the sport would be a much bigger gamble.
Remember some years back when Brett Farve got nailed for Oxy abuse? Should Farve have been banned for multiple seasons - even life? Should GB have been forced to forfeit all their wins? Vacating wins/lengthy suspensions should be limited to acts that actually impact the outcome of the contest. Steroids may have helped Silva heal so that he could fight....but it didn't change the outcome of the fight.
I don't know if you noticed yet but news broke yesterday that he's also failed his post-fight test. There were drugs still in his system. He wasn't using them to heal. Not to mention that one of the drugs he was popped for, Masterol, which many UFC fighters have used, is for weight cutting and has no healing applications.
Not good. I actually consider the absurd weight-cutting to be a bigger "fairness" issue than most steroid use. I must admit I scoffed at the initial report that he was clean a few days before the fight - but dirty afterward. If it was a weight loss drug, that actually makes sense.
Masterol was in his system in the first test along with an anabolic. The substance(s) from the post-fight test aren't yet disclosed as the results haven't even been made public.
Luke Thomas has suggested that fighters who voluntarily enroll in a year-round testing regimen should get money to do so. Since this entails the UFC paying for year-round testing and for the fighters who enroll in it, snowball's chance in hell.
It also raises an interesting question - who is responsible for drug testing? If UFC has to be responsible for the program, shouldn't they also have the authority to determine the penalties? If the NSAC et al is not paying for the tests (or guaranteeing their accuracy), why should they have power over the results? IMHO, if the fighters unionize the testing program should be part of the CBA.
Luke Rockhold says two years for first offense. IMHO if the fighters unionize the testing programs will be in trouble. I might be misinformed but I don't think the CBA's have strengthened drug testing in any of the major sports in recent iterations.
