Chael Sonnen Attempts To Vindicate Himself At His Appeal This Thursday

Thursday’s California Circus with Chael Sonnen & Josh Barnett

 

By Zach Arnold FightOpinion | November 30, 2010

All of the hearing details can be found here. 157 pages (with about two being relevant). The meeting will take place on Thursday at 9:30 AM at 2005 Evergreen Street (Hearing Room) in Sacramento.

Who knows how the political winds have changed in California and whether or not this will be a forgiving appeals panel to one Chael Sonnen. What I do know is this — after Thursday’s hearing, we may find out some new angles to usage of [Performance Enhancing Drugs] PEDs in MMA. A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned publicly that I thought it was curious that all of a sudden we are starting to hear reports about fighters allegedly using TRT (Testosterone Replacement Therapy). TRT is not exactly something that you associate with healthy guys in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. Yes, I realize that 2010 became the year that lots of potions and infomercials for “Low T” (testosterone) got pitched to the public to buy the latest and greatest invention to give your sex life a boost and make you more active again like you used to be. However, we’re talking about MMA fighters here who are viewed by many fans as tremendous athletes. (More on a TRT defense here.)

Hormonal replacement therapy and TRT can, in some instances, be credibly explained. In other cases, the usage of such methods should raise a lot of red flags. If guys are hurting their bodies allegedly through bad weight cutting procedures or through the usage of PEDs, then it’s hard to say with a straight face that this is somehow a safe sport. After all, what is the purpose of TRT? It’s used when someone has a damaged endocrine system and has to synthetically boost their testosterone levels in their bodies. For most sports fans, this is not a topic you think much about. For pro-wrestling fans who have witnessed many public scandals involving online pharmacies and mark doctors, TRT is not a new revelation.

Which reminds me of the back-and-forth debate that happened between Josh Gross and Larry Pepe (here, here, and here) in which Larry challenged the idea that so many fighters would be visiting endocrinologists to get drugs to beat tests. A couple of things: a) what if fighters were allowed by the athletic commissions to use TRT or similar treatments and get exempted for it? b) who’s to say that there aren’t plenty of mark doctors out there willing to help certain gyms out with what is needed? We’ve seen plenty of mark doctors across various sports get busted for HGH or steroids to help out certain athletes.

What I think will be most interesting about Thursday’s meeting is not what the outcome of Chael Sonnen’s suspension will be but rather if the current debate on PED usage in MMA somehow gets advanced (if there are new defenses being used or new techniques revealed publicly that were once kept in the shadows). I have low expectations about Thursday’s appeals hearing, but if the hearings are going to serve any purpose then I think we may hear some explanations that could progress the media debate as to what is happening in the business for PED usage.

Jon "Bones" Jones at UFC Gym Los Angeles (Rosemead) Grand Opening

Jon "Bones" Jones at UFC Gym Los Angeles (Rosemead) Grand Opening, Sept. 18, 2010










UFC^® President Dana White, Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell, Bruce Buffer
and Top Fighters BJ Penn, Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort, Jon Fitch,
Gray Maynard, Jon Jones, WEC^® Champion Dominick Cruz, plus UFC Octagon Girl^™ Arianny and Best of PRIDE^® Host Kenda Perez to Attend

Rosemead, CA (USA) – Continuing on its path to completely revolutionize the fitness industry, UFC^® GYM^™ is unveiling a second location  in Rosemead, California, and is holding the official Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening Expo on Saturday, September 18 starting at 10:00am PT.
UFC superstars Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell and BJ “The Prodigy” Penn as well as UFC President Dana White and New Evolution Ventures (NeV) founders / UFC Gym Partners Mark Mastrov and Jim Rowley will make special appearances to kick-off all of the day’s exciting events and activities.
“I was blown away by the first gym in Concord, and the Rosemead UFC Gym is just as incredible,” said White.  “I’m excited to get there on September 18^th and open yet another UFC Gym for fitness seekers in LA.”

“This UFC Gym facility is second to none. No one out there can replicate what we do. The Rosemead location will continue to provide innovative fitness training and create an atmosphere where members will see immediate results. UFC Gym is not what you expect and more than you could imagine,” said Rowley, NeV/UFC Gym CEO/co-founder.

White, Liddell, Penn, Mastrov and Rowley will take part in the official ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring Rosemead City Officials scheduled to begin at 10:15am PT.

Attendees can look forward to an action packed day: White will deliver a public address, fighters will sign autographs inside the Octagon^™, Bruce Buffer will host Q&A sessions and UFC stars BJ Penn, Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort, Jon Fitch, Gray Maynard, Jon Jones, Dominick Cruz and Best of PRIDE host Kenda Perez will make special appearances.  Additionally, fitness demos will be taking place all day long, including UFC Gym Kids MMA, Muay Thai, Zumba, Kick Ass Kickboxing and Daily Ultimate Training (DUT) while partners such as the U.S. Marines, Affliction and Powerade will be on site highlighting their brands.
To top it all off, UFC Octagon Girl^™ Arianny Celeste will sign autographs and then take the stage for fan giveaways, which will include UFC Gym prize packages and UFC tickets for the upcoming mega-fight UFC 121: LESNAR vs. VELASQUEZ taking place Saturday, Oct. 23 live from the Honda Center in Anaheim.
The full schedule for the Grand Opening is available below. For more information on UFC Gyms, please visit UFCgyms.com.

GRAND OPENING FULL SCHEDULE
(Times Subject to Change)


10:00AM                    GRAND OPENING EXPO Officially Begins
10:15-10:30AM           OFFICIAL RIBBON CUTTING featuring Dana White, Chuck Liddell, BJ Penn,           
                                     Mark Mastrov, Jim Rowley and Rosemead City Officials
11:30AM                    White Address from Inside the UFC Gym Octagon
12:00Noon                  Chael Sonnen, Gray Maynard and Arianny Autograph Session

12:30PM                     White and Liddell Kick Off Question and Answer Session Hosted by Bruce Buffer         
1:00 – 1:30PM           Chael Sonnen and Gray Maynard Q&A

1:00 – 2:00PM           Vitor Belfort and Kenda Perez Autograph Session

1:30 – 2:00PM           Jon Jones & Jon Fitch Q&A 

2:00 – 3:00PM           Jon Jones & Jon Fitch Autograph Session  

2:00 – 2:30PM           Vitor Belfort & Kenda Perez Q&A

2:30 – 3:00PM           BJ Penn & Dominick Cruz Q&A

3:00 – 3:30PM           Prize Giveaways with Arianny and Bruce Buffer

3:00 – 4:00PM           BJ Penn & Dominick Cruz Autograph Session
5:00 – 10:00PM         Music – Food & Fun!

For more information, or current UFC fight news, visit UFC.com. All bouts live and subject to change.

Ultimate Fighting Championship® – www.ufc.com

Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., UFC® produces over twelve UFC live Pay-Per-View events annually and 30 live arena events around the world.  UFC programming is distributed in the United States on Viacom, Inc.’s Spike TV and on Comcast, Inc.’s Versus network.  UFC content is distributed commercially through Joe Hand Promotions in the U.S. and Canadastar in Canada.  Globally, UFC programming is broadcast in over 147 countries and territories, reaching 430 million homes worldwide, in 19 different languages.  Ancillary businesses now include UFC.com with over 5 million unique visitors per month, the best-selling UFC “Undisputed” videogame franchise distributed by THQ, UFC Gym™, UFC Fight Club affinity program, UFC Fan Expo™ festivals, branded apparel, trading cards, articulated action figures and other media including best-selling DVDs and a U.S. bimonthly magazine.

Ultimate Fighting Championship®, Ultimate Fighting®, UFC®, The Ultimate Fighter®, Submission®, As Real As It Gets®, Zuffa®, The Octagon™ and the eight-sided competition mat and cage design are registered trademarks, registered service marks, trademarks, trade dress and/or service marks owned exclusively by Zuffa, LLC and licensed to its affiliated entities and other licensees in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other marks referenced herein may be the property of Zuffa, LLC, its affiliates or other respective owners.

UFC in San Diego on Versus 2: Jones vs. Matyushenko, August 1, 2010

The UFC was the proud sponsor of Patrick Moro of PMR Motorsports on Saturday, July 31, 2010 at X Games 16. Moro's UFC 117 rally car symbolized UFC 117 fight on August 7 featuring middle-weight champion Anderson “Spider” Silva against wrestler and Real Estate professional Chael Sonnen. Silva is 26-4-0 with 15 KO/TKO wins, 4 wins by decision, and 0 draws. Silva holds several UFC records with an 11 win winning streak, 6 consecutive title defenses, and the highest total striking accuracy at 70 percent.  Silva holds several UFC records with an 11 win winning streak, 6 consecutive title defenses, and the highest total striking accuracy in the UFC at 70 percent. Silva can laugh especially after Sonnen's multitude of bashing to hype the fight.  We hope the only endless circling done at UFC 117 is by the ring girls.

How do you cross-train? Do you think Anderson Silva will use his Aikido training with Steven Seagal in his next UFC fight against Chael Sonnen?

MMA fighters cross-training for the UFC: Do you think Anderson Silva will use his Aikido training with Steven Seagal in his next UFC fight against Chael Sonnen? I took Aikido a long time ago so I am interested in its application at the pro level with their speed and power.