Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Maybe Vitor Belfort Won't Leapfrog Nate Marquardt For Title Shot After All
When it was initially announced that Vitor Belfort was getting the next crack at UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva, everyone from Ed Soares to Belfort himself acknowledged that this was at least partially bullshit. The good news is that, with Anderson Silva still sidelined due to a lingering injury, Belfort looks like he'll get his chance to prove he deserves the shot in a top contender bout with Nate Marquardt. Think of it as a rare instance of an injury pullout by a UFC champ resulting in a fight that probably makes more sense than the original title contest. When you think about how often this type of thing has been happening to the UFC of late, it only makes sense that sooner or later it would have to turn out to be a blessing in disguise. That's just the law of averages at work.
Meanwhile, let's take a step back and look at the current state of the UFC championship belts:
155 lbs: B.J. Penn puts the lightweight title up for grabs next weekend against Diego Sanchez. If Penn retains the title, don't look for him to turn around and defend it again any time in the next six months.
170 lbs: Georges St. Pierre goes up against Dan Hardy in March in what seems very likely to be a championship squash match.
185 lbs: Anderson Silva is still hurting and his return is uncertain. The good news is that, by the time he can come back, a #1 contender will be clearly established.
205 lbs: Lyoto Machida and "Shogun" Rua will go at it one more time in May. Unless something bad happens to one of them, which seems all too likely given the UFC's current streak of bad luck.
265 lbs: Brock Lesnar is a very, very sick man. Don't believe this 'back in six months' stuff just yet. The big man is going to need some time, and we shouldn't expect to see him before summer.
Basically, what we're probably looking at in 2010 is two title fights in the first five months. That's not great news when it comes to scraping together pay-per-view headliners. Better start working on those grudges, boys.
cagepotato.com
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
CSAC Confirms Stance on Medical Marijuana : AKA "The Diaz Rule"
As any California resident with ADD and a desire to make jam bands seem worth listening to already knows, getting a prescription for medical marijuana in the Golden State is really no problem. Fighting for a living after smoking said medical marijuana, however, that’s a trickier issue.
Nick Diaz has the state’s consent to smoke his little heart out, but he doesn’t have the CSAC’s permission to fight with it in his system. His ability to beat a drug test with sufficient notice is well documented, but so is his inability to even show up for the test when he doesn’t get that notice. Just to make sure their position on medical marijuana use by licensed athletes is clear, the CSAC went ahead and made their case for coming down hard on the Nick Diaz’s of the sporting world, issuing a statement that draws upon state supreme court precedent to arrive at this conclusion:
Because the Compassionate Use Act only provides a defense to criminal charges, any argument that the Act would allow an athlete to use the drug without consequences to his or her license must fail. If the Court were to take up a similar challenge to discipline of a licensee, it would likely find that the Commission has a legitimate interest in whether or not an athlete uses the drug because marijuana could slow a fighter’s reflexes and endanger his or her health and safety in the ring or the cage.
Therefore, given the limited reach of the Compassionate Use Act and the rationale of the Supreme Court in Ross v. RagingWire Telcomm, the Commission may safely discipline an athlete without running afoul of any law or court decision.
In other words, it’s your right to get high and play Xbox to soothe your anxiety disorder, but that doesn’t mean the CSAC can’t fine or suspend you if pop positive.
Diaz's method of beating drug tests may work just fine for teenagers trying to get a job at a store in the mall. As long as you know when you're going to pee and there are no surprises, it's not all that difficult for a veteran from the 209. But when the CSAC can call him up and tell him to submit to a pre-licensing test without more than a week's notice, he's going to be screwed every single time. For a guy who hopes to continue fighting in Strikeforce, which loves to hold events in California, it might be almost enough to make him consider some life changes. Or at least it might be if he went through the same rational decision-making process as normal people.
cagepotato.com
Sunday, November 29, 2009
White prepared to call M-1 Global's bluff of free Lesnar vs. Emelianenko bout
Earlier this month, M-1 Global exec Jerry Millen made waves by claiming Fedor Emelianenko would be willing to fight Brock Lesnar for free.
UFC president Dana White recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio that he's prepared to call Millen's bluff.
"They'll do the fight for free?" White asked. "That's [expletive] weird because I offered them millions of dollars to take the fight and he didn't take it. Now [Emelianenko] wants to fight for free? When and where? I'd love him to fight for free."
