Bellator
Report: Four fighters from Bellator 127 in California fail post-fight drug tests
Oct 31, 2014 - 10:45:13 AM Report: Four fighters from Bellator 127 in California fail post-fight drug tests

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Perhaps Bellator fighters were getting used to a lack of drug testing at the venues where the organization was running events, because four competitors were flagged by the California State Athletic Commission out of this month's Bellator 127 card.

The CSAC administered drug tests to a number of fighters on the Oct. 3 card, which aired live on Spike TV, and Keith Berry, Nick Moghaddam, Rob Emerson, and Fernando Gonzalez each came up positive for a variety of substances.

According to a report from Sherdog.com, only Berry's punishment has been officially determined. He had an elevated level of testosterone in his system, as well as marijuana, and his victory over Joe Pacheco on the card has been overturned to a no contest.

Gonzalez was the other fighter among the four to win on the card, though it's not yet been determined if his stoppage win over Karo Parisyan will be overturned. He tested positive for cannabinoids, though at what level is unclear. There's reportedly a set fine for a failed marijuana test in California of $100 plus the cost of testing, bringing it to $315 total.

Both Moghaddam and Emerson lost on the card, so there's no win to overturn, but they'll likely receive some sort of suspension and monetary fine as well. Moghaddam's failure was identical to Berry's, while Emerson tested positive for a prescription drug called Modafinil which is meant to treat narcolepsy, but allegedly has recreational uses as well.

Penick's Analysis: Bellator has run a vast majority of their events at casino venues on reservations, with tribal commissions overseeing the cards - if there was a commission in place to begin with, of course. They came under fire last year in the midst of the increasing drug testing conversation due to the fact that they hadn't had any fighters fail a drug test to that point. That was likely because they weren't being conducted all that often, and certainly not for every fighter on the card. This may simply be an anomaly because they were in California for this card, but four fighters from one card testing positive for something is just an absurdly ridiculous number for a fight night drug test.