Drugs: A Rising Problem in MMA?

These days, drugs almost seem to be a part of a mixed martial artist's everyday diet. Recently we've had an influx of fighters testing positive for some form of substance. These fighters include UFC hall of famer Royce Gracie, Nick Diaz, Stephan Bonnar, Thiago Alves, Johnnie Morton, and more recently UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk and his most recent challenger Hermes Franca. Unfortunately, drug abuse is becoming a major problem in MMA.

The California State Athletic Commission recently released drug testing results. As many as twenty-eight fighters licensed by CSAC have violated the state's anti-doping policy from March 31 through July 6 of 2007. What's more sad is that a whopping 71 percent are from mixed martial arts alone. Shocking to say the least, considering that MMA has 14 fewer cards than boxing and kickboxing combined.

The list released by CSAC does not specificy the type of failure to fighters of any discpline, however there were 28 violations reported, 9 of which are from steroids.

Many fighters however, tested positive for traces of Marijuana and even COCAINE. Yeah, brilliant.

So it seems everyone wants a piece of the drug bandwagon, it's like a freakin' epidemic. MMA receives enough negative light and having the substance abusers mostly coming from mixed martial artists does not particurlarly help the cause. In the past, steroids have not helped a fighters performance from a positive standpoint (i.e. Stephan Bonnar, Hermes Franca, Johnnie Morton, Melvin Guillard, etc.) but, fighters are still inclined to do them.

Well, hopefully this little trend will come to a halting stop soon. Here is the list released by CSAC, courtesy of Sherdog.com.

CSAC DRUG VIOLATIONS FROM 03/31/07 THROUGH 07/06/07
Total Violations: 28
Breakdown of Violations By Sport
Mixed Martial Arts: 20
Boxing: 5
Kickboxing: 2
Breakdown of Events Tested By Sport
Mixed Martial Arts: 17 (3, all athletes tested for drugs of abuse and steroids; 2, all athletes tested for drugs of abuse and random steroids; Remainder, random testing for drugs of abuse and steroids.)
Boxing: 28 (3, all athletes tested for drugs of abuse and steroids; 2, all athletes tested for drugs of abuse and random steroids; Remainder, random testing for drugs of abuse and steroids.) Kickboxing: 3 (Random testing for drugs of abuse and steroids.)

Total Steroid Violations: 9 Multiple Steroids in a Single Violation: 4 Breakdown of Steroid Violations
Elevated T/E Ratio: 4
Stanozolol Metabolite: 3
Boldenone Metabolite: 2 (Also known as Equipoise -- available only by prescription through veterinary clinics.)
Nandrolone Metabolite: 2
Prostanozol Metabolite: 1
Estra-4 9-dien-3 17-dione: 1
Desoxymethyltestosterone: 1

Total Drugs of Abuse Violations: 17 Multiple Drugs of Abuse in a Single Violation: 1 Breakdown of Drugs of Abuse
Marijuana: 13
Cocaine: 2
Methamphetamine: 2
Amphetamines: 1

Adulterated Drug Test: 1 (Athlete purposely altered with tap water in test kit -- confirmed by the laboratory.)

Refusal to Test: 1 (Considered a violation.)

Drugs are bad, kids,
The Lianger