| 19 September 2010
As you've probably heard by now on the world wide web, Chael Sonnen tested positive for performance enhancing drugs after his UFC 117 fight with Anderson Silva. Considering Sonnen has been so vocally against drug use (he supposedly said that Lance Armstrong gave himself cancer because he took drugs), his own drug bust is causing quite the stir in the MMA world. If Sonnen is given a suspension, as is usually the case, that could put in jeopardy his rematch against Silva, rumored to be taking place early next year. But is his drug use revelation as shocking as people are making it out to be and, in the end, does it really matter?
It is shocking, but not for the obvious reasons. As Shakespeare wrote, "the lady doth protests too much, methinks", meaning those who declare their innocence the most are normally the guilty ones. So Sonnen openly bashing drug abusers yet being a PED user himself is par for the course. And a mixed martial artist doing PEDs isn't shocking either, as we'll discuss later on. No, the shocking thing here is that Sonnen (or anyone for the matter) would be dumb enough to get CAUGHT doing PEDs. Fighters know that they are going to be tested at an event, and there is no "offseason" testing, so why would you allow yourself to get caught with banned substances in your system? You can do all the drugs you wish in between fights, but at least quit doing them early enough before your test so that they aren't in your system anymore. It's not like these tests are secret.
But does Sonnen's bust really matter, in the long run? It matters to me since I despise cheaters and I was looking forward to his rematch with The Spider. It would matter if he was a baseball player. But does it matter in MMA? Not really, if you look back at the sport's history. Legendary fighters have been busted for PEDs and have still persevered. Josh Barnett has been busted three times, had his UFC Heavyweight Championship stripped from him, yet he has recently signed with Strikeforce and Fedor Emelianenko, who reportedly won't fight Alistair Overeem (who has never tested positive for anything) unless there is extensive drug testing, is ready and willing to fight him. Tim Sylvia was busted and gave back his UFC Heavyweight belt. Sean Sherk lost his UFC Lightweight Championship due to a positive test. Nate Marquardt, Vitor Belfort, Stephan Bonner, Royce Gracie, Hermes Franca, Antonio Silva, Chris Leben and Ken Shamrock are among the other big names who have failed tests. And did it matter in the past when one of these guys were busted? Not really. Other than having to vacate titles and deal with suspensions and/or fines, it proved to be a temporary setback. A lot of these guys even admitted to their transgressions, which is refreshing compared to athletes in other sports.
In some sports PED use, while not allowed, is accepted as a necessary evil. Rightly or wrongly (wrongly in my opinion), in highly physical sports like MMA or football, PED use is almost expected. We know you can't acquire some of those physiques and perform such a physically demanding task at such a high level without a little "help". This isn't to say that all football players or mixed martial artists do drugs; rather I'm just saying we aren't surprised when we find out that one does. NFL players get busted, sit out a few games, then are back at it, without having to worry about not being voted onto Pro Bowl teams in the future or losing out on sponsorship deals. It's pretty much the same deal in MMA; Gracie and Shamrock, two fighters who failed drug tests, are in the UFC Hall of Fame. This isn't baseball or Olympic sports, where a failed test can (and normally does) ruin your career.
Whether PED use in mixed martial arts matters or not basically comes down to whether or not YOU care about it or not. The UFC doesn't care - Dana White is always quick to remind everyone that his fighters are tested by the independently-run state athletics commissions, basically implying that he can't do anything about drug abuse by his fighters. So if the rulers of the sport don't care, all that really matters is if you care. If you don't want cheaters in the sport, then you probably hate Chael Sonnen more today than you did yesterday (bet you didn't even think that was possible!). But for fans of Sonnen, don't worry about him - history shows that he'll be back and this will not taint his career in the slightest. And, considering Sonnen has aspirations to be a politician someday, it is probably fitting that he has been exposed as a hypocrite.
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