In an article that hasn’t gotten a lot of play nationally, I discovered this piece by Steve Keating from Reuters.com

The article discusses the World Anti-Doping Agency and their desire to see the UFC step up their drug testing for their fighters.

With a record 55,000 mixed martial arts fans expected to pack into the Rogers Center on Saturday for UFC 129, organizers say every fighter stepping into the cage for a title bout will be tested for performance-enhancing drugs.

But the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the Canadian Center for Ethics in Sport (CCES) and USADA say they have had no role in the UFC’s anti-doping efforts and have not tested a single fighter.

Instead, testing has been left to individual state and provincial athletic commissions, which USADA chief Travis Tygart describes as woefully inadequate.

“They want, for public relation and marketing reasons, to say they have something that makes them look better than they truly are,” Tygart told Reuters.

“Why don’t they have better rules to give athletes and sports fans comfort that there is not a rampant culture of cheating with dangerous drugs going on in their sport?

“They’re trying to pull a fast one here.”

The UFC may be dropping the ball a little bit for this event when it comes to drug testing, but as a whole, the organization has seemingly done a good job of keeping fighters honest.

Read the rest of this entry »

Is 47 the lucky number for “The Natural” Randy Couture?

The two-time former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion seems to be sticking to the idea that his bout with Lyoto Machida at UFC 129 will be his last. (ESPN)

With that in mind here are (in my opinion) the top five moments in the 47-year-old’s historic career.

1. Out of retirement, back with the gold – Couture had retired following a loss to Chuck Liddell at UFC 57 in February of 2006, but quickly got the itch to fight once again. This time, Couture came back at heavyweight to challenge then-champion Tim Sylvia. At UFC 68, The Natural returned and dominated Sylvia from the opening bell. Couture landed a big right hand that sent Sylvia crashing and then followed up with numerous takedowns over the 25 minutes to get the win and become a two-time UFC heavyweight champion.

2. Whipping Tito’s butt – Couture had just been crowned UFC Interim Light Heavyweight Champion after beating Chuck Liddell at UFC 43, which set up a unification bout with champion Tito Ortiz. Ortiz had been riding six-fight win streak that lasted for four years and was largely considered the favorite against the then-40 Couture. From the opening bell, Couture out-muscled Ortiz and scored takedown after takedown as Ortiz offered little offense. In the fifth and final round, Couture found himself over the top of Ortiz’ rear end and to sum up the night, patted him on the butt a few times, to drive home the point that he just dominated the loudmouth champion for 25 minutes.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you failed at your job for four years, would you still hold that position?

Probably not.

Yet, that is the reality that is Tito Ortiz.

Ortiz has not won a fight since October 10, 2006. That is about 54 months by my count. Yet, Ortiz is still landing major fights on pay-per-view and he will now be taking on Ryan Bader as part of the main card of UFC 132.

Ortiz was once a dominant champion in the UFC, but that was back in the early 2000’s when Tim Sylvia was still a factor.

What is funny about Ortiz’ is that he still talks about getting back “his belt”. I don’t know that Ortiz could beat any champion in any UFC weight class right now, let alone light heavyweight champ Jon Jones.

Ortiz is a pretty easy guy to game plan for too. Just stay off your back. His striking hasn’t evolved since he was champion and now, guys are throwing him around like he used to throw his opponents around.

I respect what Ortiz has done, but he is only hurting his legacy with each loss. His time has passed and just like the UFC did with Chuck Liddell, it is time for the organization to force him away from the octagon.