Strikeforce
STRIKEFORCE NEWS: Texas commission officials say there's much ado about nothing in Strikeforce: Houston O2 canister controversy
Aug 23, 2010 - 3:05:22 PM STRIKEFORCE NEWS: Texas commission officials say there's much ado about nothing in Strikeforce: Houston O2 canister controversy

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The controversies continued out of Strikeforce: Houston on Saturday, as in addition to the officiating issues that plagued the event, both Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal and K.J. Noons were seen ingesting pure compressed oxygen before their respective bouts. The controversy came from whether or not the compressed oxygen shots were allowed under the regulations, and today word has come down from Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation officials on the subject.

"The fighters didn't use anything against the rules," said cageside physician Jorge Guerrero in comments made to Mike Chiappetta at MMAFighting.com. "When it's something that's not overtly prohibited or limited, it's usually left up to the doctors at ringside, and we make the call on the spot. I think that's what happened here."

TDLR's Public Information Officer Susan Stanford also commented on the oxygen cans in comments made to MMAJunkie.com, saying, "It's my understanding that the physician did consult with the ringside physician, and it was approved by the physician. It was within [the rules]."

However, it should be noted that while it was a gray area under the rules in Texas allowing for the doctors to make that judgment call, it's not the same case in every state.

As the the legal counsel for the New Jersey state athletic control board Nick Lembo stated in the MMAFighting.com report, New Jersey doesn't allow the use of the canisters, but not because of the concentrated oxygen.

"We wouldn't have a problem with the oxygen per se," said Lembo. "But the canister could contain most any type of vaporized substance in addition to oxygen that could include banned substances and it would be impossible to ascertain such at that point in time."

Of course, the state of Texas doesn't require drug testing, and none was done for Saturday's event at the Toyota Center, so whether anything extra was in those canisters or not that could have tripped a post fight positive result, there's no way of knowing. But for now, there was no wrong-doing by either fighter per the rules and regulations Texas had in place for the event.

Penick's Analysis: The benefit, if there is any at all, of using the pure oxygen shots may be negligible, but the issue remains a commission in Texas that doesn't completely have a handle on what's being done at these events. If this has a benefit, then certain fighters were gaining an advantage by utilizing it. Perhaps it's on their opponents to be up to speed on what the others are using, but this is something that was allowed last minute at cageside. The bigger issue would be if either fighter had anything else in those canisters as Lembo talked about. If we're operating under the assumption that they are both honest fighters there's no concern, but when there wasn't any drug testing done there will remain skepticism on the subject. Still, for now there's nothing more that will come from this.