Penick's Take
PENICK: Notebook 1/8 - Cris "Cyborg's" steroid failure excuse, Strikeforce "Rockhold vs. Jardine" thoughts
Jan 8, 2012 - 11:35:52 PM PENICK: Notebook 1/8 - Cris "Cyborg's" steroid failure excuse, Strikeforce "Rockhold vs. Jardine" thoughts

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

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

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

--Cris "Cyborg" Santos has come out with an "explanation" for stanozolol metabolites showing up in her system after a drug test out of her December fight with Hiroko Yamanaka, blaming it on an over-the-counter weight loss supplement. Cyborg claims she took the supplement while having difficulties cutting weight for the Yamanaka fight, but didn't know there were any banned substances contained within.

However, that claim was pretty much shot down on Twitter by Victor Conte, the founder and president of BALCO, the sports nutrition center that was heavily involved in the Barry Bonds saga in Major League Baseball. Conte - who served time for conspiracy to distribute steroids, among other things - knows a thing or two about performance enhancing substances, and posted on Twitter that there has never been an instance where stanozolol was found in an OTC weight-loss supplement.

Regardless of any excuses or attempted defense, "Cyborg's" look, and the fact that she's a woman being busted for steroids is going to taint the rest of her career. Additionally, it casts a shadow on her entire record. Her not-all-that-feminine look was part of her draw as a dominant force, but with this failed test it immediately will make everyone believe her body came about unnaturally. Considering the beatings she's put on women in the sport, that makes the reaction and potential backlash worse than her male counterparts, and she's never going to be looked at in the same light ever again.

--Strikeforce's "Rockhold vs. Jardine" event was an event indicative of what fans should come to expect from Strikeforce unless or until they bring over anyone from the UFC. Luke Rockhold looked very solid in a first round knockout over Keith Jardine - a fight that was stopped a bit late even if Jardine appeared to be trying to fight his way back up - and while the fight got a lot of flak due to the irrelevant title involved, Jardine made for a good next-step opponent for Rockhold. The Strikeforce Middleweight Champ hasn't faced a murderer's row of competition, so a veteran in Jardine was a sensible opponent at this stage of his career, and he did exactly what he should have done in a fight like this. As someone that could certainly make a move up the ladder at 185 lbs., he should have handled the 2012 version of Keith Jardine with relative ease, and that's just what he did.

--The main event wasn't the only fight with a late stoppage, as Kim Winslow allowed Lorenz Larkin to take a ridiculous amount of unanswered shots from "King Mo" Lawal. This is a fight that really shouldn't have been put together at this stage in either man's career. Larkin's never fought a fighter with the credentials of Lawal, and his ground game wasn't anywhere near ready for the superior wrestling and ground and pound game of the former Champion. That Winslow allowed him to take that beating in the second round made it even worse. Larkin's a good young fighter, but he didn't need to be thrown to the lions this early. And although he looked solid, the win didn't do much to tell anyone anything they didn't know about Lawal. It was a good performance from Lawal, but again, entirely expected.

--Robbie Lawler did what Robbie Lawler can do in stopping Adlan Amagov. He's always been capable of entertaining displays of violence, but certain styles of fighters can give him fits, and he doesn't always respond well to adversity in the cage. The only adversity he faced in this one was a ridiculously illegal knee that Amagov had no business throwing, but as he didn't take too much damage it didn't have much of an effect on him. Outside of that, Amagov is the type of fighter that Lawler historically has had a lot of success against, and in delivering that wild knee to the top of Amagov's head, Lawler set up a nice finish to halt his two-fight skid.

--Strikeforce's welterweight division probably isn't any closer to finding a new champion after the performances of Tarec Saffiedine and Tyron Woodley. Saffiedine had more trouble than expected against the unheralded Tyler Stinson, and Woodley put on his least crowd-pleasing performance in what was essentially a wrestling match inside of the cage. The "mixed" part of the sport hasn't caught up to his wrestling game, and though he's a fantastic wrestler capable of controlling just about anyone at 170 lbs., it makes for a less-than appealing viewing experience, and Strikeforce isn't going to build off of that. Wrestling has its place in MMA, and can be utilized as a very dominating tool for a lot of fighters, but in the style Woodley has been employing, it becomes a tedious, monotonous affair, and that's not going to bring viewers to see him at the highest levels.