The Nate Marquardt-testosterone replacement treatment story is something that has become a hot-button issue in today’s MMA.
It was first brought to light this past fall with Chael Sonnen and now has become the reason Nate Marquardt couldn’t compete at UFC Live 4 last Sunday and subsequently was fired by Dana White and the UFC.
Nevada State Athletic Comission’s Executive Director, Keith Kizer, spoke to Tapout about TRT and how it can be properly done and why it is important in MMA.
Cleary the athletic commissions feels that TRT is an acceptable thing for fighters that need it, but the rules still seem a little lenient.
The judging system in MMA has long been debated and criticized over the years.
Now, with one of the most controversial bouts in UFC history set to have its rematch, the UFC is looking to avoid more controversy if at all possible
Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting reports that the UFC is looking to have monitors present for each of the judges at UFC 130, which takes place May 28 in Las Vegas.
The main event of UFC 130 is the third contest between UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar and challenger Gray Maynard. Their last contest at UFC 125 ended in a draw after 25 minutes of action.
Marc Ratner, the UFC’s Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, informed MMA Fighting that the organization has formally submitted a request to the Nevada State Athletic Commission to install monitors as a backup viewing option for the judges assigned to score the bouts at UFC 130.
“I’ve emailed [NSAC Executive Director] Keith [Kizer] and asked him to put the request on the next agenda. We believe these monitors will be another look to help with the judges,” Ratner wrote via e-mail.
According to the UFC, California is the only state to ever provide monitors for judges while scoring MMA bouts.
I am all for helping judges make better decisions and if this will do it, sign me up.
I think judging in general is a hard issue to tackle because everyone has a different view of a fight and the 10-point scoring system leaves the door open for questionable results.
I for one also scored the Edgar-Maynard II bout at UFC 125 as a draw, with Maynard taking round one 10-8 and Edgar winning three of the remaining four rounds 10-9.
Hopefully UFC 130 will bring some closure to this rivalry and allow the UFC to move on in its stacked lightweight division.
Chael Sonnen burst onto the mainstream MMA scene in 2010 for his repetitive, but often funny, trash talk leading up to his fight with Anderson Silva at UFC 117 in August.
Sonnen backed up that talk by dominating Silva for four-and-a-half rounds before Silva secured an arm triangle submission in the final minute of the fight.
The performance was inspiring, but it was erased by a failed post-fight drug test which showed increased levels of testosterone. Sonnen claimed he had cleared testosterone replacement therapy with the proper authorities, but that was not the case.
Sonnen was suspended for six months from competition, but is now on the road back. Before returning to competition, Sonnen still has some work to do, as he told MMAFighting.com’s Mike Chiappetta.
A return to action will not come, however, until Sonnen steps before the Nevada state athletic commission again. During CSAC testimony last December, Sonnen told commissioners that he had cleared his testosterone replacement therapy use in Nevada with its athletic commission executive direction Keith Kizer. Kizer, however, disputed that. The sides met recently and Sonnen voiced a hope that a second meeting would give more clarity to his situation.
Saying he incorrectly phrased his testimony, Sonnen took blame for the mistake and anticipated the opportunity to allay the concerns of the influential Nevada commission.
“All the frustration and all of the blame is on me,” he said. “I’m the one that chose my words. I’m the one that said when I was in California, I represented to them that I had a conversation with Kizer and he approved my medicine use. That is not correct. Those are the wrong words. My manager had the conversation. I relied on information my manager gave me. So director Kizer is absolutely correct. He’s correct to be frustrated. I chose the words. It comes to me. Now, I wasn’t attempting to mislead anybody, but they’re my words all the same, so I should have to answer to Kizer.”
“I need to clear the air with him and more importantly, I need to clear it on the record,” he said. “My takeaway from the meeting with Kizer was not ‘We don’t want to work with you again.’ It was simply, ‘There’s been some mistakes. Our reservation is you’re going to repeat them.’ That’s not going to happen, but what he wants to do is give me an opportunity to speak on the record so that we can get everything recorded and written down and make sure we don’t do those things again. If i was in Kizer’s shoes, I wouldn’t demand anything less.”
Sonnen is still one of the more polarizing fighters in all of MMA and his return will be good for the UFC.
