MMA News Updates: Baroni, Jackson-Henderson

Two pretty interesting developments hit the MMA scene today. Phil Baroni tests positive for steroids (gasp!) and it's now said that the fight between Quinton Jackson and Dan Henderson WILL in fact be for the UFC light heavyweight belt, despite yesterday's allegations mentioned by the OCregister.

Here are brief descriptions of the news updates and my two cents:

1. Baroni testing positive for steroids

Phil "The NY Bad Ass" Baroni most recently lost by submission at the hands of MMA legend Frank Shamrock at Strikeforce/EliteXC's "Shamrock vs. Baroni" event held on June 22. It has now been reported by the California State Athletic Commission(CSAC) that Baroni tested positive for Boldenone Metabolite and Stanozolol Metabolite, two common anabolic steroids. And because of this, Baroni has been fined $2,500 and suspended 365 days, quite the crap storm for Baroni.

What is with fighters and steroids? I mean, they always end up getting caught, punished and on top of all this, they usually don't win! It serves no purpose really. With that said, the year suspension seems a bit harsh in my opinion. I don't understand how they whip up the punishments, it seems like they might just be pulling strips out of a hat. Meh, beats me, seems like fighters testing positive for some substance is the "hip" thing to do these days. Let's all jump on the substance bandwagon!

2. Jackson-Henderson Title Fight Is On, Baby!

Well, despite the OCRegister's reports about this one turning into a non-title bout, it now looks like a belt is on the line. The fighters will duke it out on September 8 for the UFC light heavyweight. Looks like Henderson lucked out and gets to hold on to his PRIDE belts for a little longer.

Today on The Stephan Quadros Show, Quadros and and co-host Aaron Crecy report that Zuffa LLC, parent company of the UFC, has declared that the matchup would be for the UFC light heavyweight championship.

Thank God, for this news. I mean, the fight kind of lost its appeal to me when I was told that nothing was at stake. Quadros seems like a more credible source than "OCRegister." All in all, this is great news and it looks like everything is back to candy canes and rainbows!

The Lianger