...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
With a lot of fight announcements filling up this summer's cards and lots of news and reactions coming in recent days, now's a good time to add some extra comments I haven't quite gotten to during the week.
--For starters, let's talk about the UFC's August bookings. It was really looking like they were going to make good on their promise to put on the best television card ever for the Fox Sports 1 debut in Boston; they moved Alistair Overeem to the event, Urijah Faber got put on the docket in a great fight with Yuri Alcantara, Matt Brown vs. Thiago Alves looked fun, and then the Chael Sonnen-Mauricio "Shogun" Rua fight seemed like it was coming to the event. When that was the rumor, and the UFC had been considering multiple options for the main event, it was looking great.
Then they decided Sonnen-Rua was the main event, and they just fell short. The fight by itself isn't a terrible booking. Sonnen remains a name they're going to back despite his decisive losses to Anderson Silva and Jon Jones in consecutive bouts, and Shogun himself had lost in his last outing. But therein lies the biggest issue with it being the main event. Both suffered convincing losses in their last outings, and in Sonnen's case two straight decisive finishes. Considering the UFC has had title fights in multiple divisions on free TV and really strong cards for their last several Fox events, booking this as the main event means it's not their best free TV card. Period.
Add in the fact that it wasn't even one of the originally discussed main events (and that at the very least the Lightweight Championship bout between Benson Henderson and T.J. Grant was considered, if not something bigger), and this fight's a disappointment in that slot. The fight made sense on 12 days notice as a replacement bout, and it was ok to keep it together, but it was simply the wrong choice for a headliner on their major debut on this new network.
And I don't think I'm alone here. Looking at the poll results regarding the Sonnen-Shogun headliner, 62% didn't think the fight should be the night's headliner, with 18% not even seeing it as the biggest fight on the card. 44% simply felt it wasn't main event worthy. 38% of you were easier to please on that front, finding it a good fight between two "name" fighters.
--Speaking of Ben Henderson and T.J. Grant, Bendo's going to get a chance to headline a pay-per-view event again after two fights on free television. His two pay-per-view headliners with Frankie Edgar did not draw well last year, and his fight with Gilbert Melendez wasn't one that is going to inspire a ton of converts who want to pay to see him. That said, this event will be built up around more than just that fight, with Josh Barnett's return against Frank Mir and a couple of exciting featherweight fights currently making up the bulk of that card. Add in the Harley Davidson weekend connection and a generally solid weekend for pay-per-view buyers, and this could out-draw both of his events from 2012.
--That said, this event could suffer from what is a fantastic looking card for UFC 163 earlier in the month in Brazil. With Jose Aldo-Anthony Pettis on top, Lyoto Machida in the co-main event, and several highly intriguing matchups, more fans may be tuning in a short time before UFC 164. Any time two pay-per-view events run in the same month there's going to be some effect on one or the other, and honestly both could underperform without proven draws on top. Still, they're among four cards in the month which remain highly intriguing, including the first Wednesday event on FS1 with my second favorite fight of the month (behind Pettis-Aldo) in the Condit-Kampmann rematch.
--Moving on from the fight announcements, one of the other interesting things to come out this week was that B.J. Penn is considering making a return to the cage, and may do so at lightweight. He's testing his body in training to figure out whether he can make that return, and will make a decision later this year more than likely. We asked readers in a poll this morning whether they think he should return or not, and most were in the camp of being alright with it. 46% thinks he's got enough in him to give it a try at lightweight, with 20% kind of on the fence but being ok with it if he comes back. The final 34% believe he should just retire. I'm in the middle here. If he returns, I want to see it at lightweight because we've seen him get beat up in three straight fights at welterweight. But I'm just not sure what left Penn has to offer in the sport. He's not been fighting at his best over the last couple of years, he just hasn't been, and when that's led to the types of fights we've seen against Nick Diaz and Rory MacDonald, that's when it's best for a fighter to walk away.
--Finally, I'd like to counter the argument presented by our own Brad Walker this afternoon regarding testosterone replacement therapy in the sport. Brad argues, using a family member's experience with TRT as an example, that for those who need it, the treatment is something that should be allowed and not vilified. My main contention with his take is taking the athletes at face value as to their "need" for TRT.
One of the biggest issues with TRT being allowed for fighters right now is a serious lack of accountability and oversight. It's far too easy in 2013 to get a diagnoses of low T when indeed it may not be to the seriously low levels for which the treatment is supposed be used. Take Chael Sonnen's story for an example. In his hearing with the California State Athletic Commission in 2010, Sonnen presented a family doctor and gave what came off as a farcical story explaining his need for testosterone and his hypogonadism. Believe him if you'd like, but there has never been any real look into his claims, nor have the fighters getting prescribed this treatment had their need investigated to the proper level.
Considering hypogonadism is an issue brought upon by a number of issues, one of which remains past steroid use, there's a very real conversation that still hasn't been had as to why it's being allowed. And the other argument remains, if you need exogenous testosterone to continue competing in combat sports, that's a sign you should walk away.
There's also an issue with using the example of the family member on the treatment. There's no question that anyone using the treatment the right way, especially your average person, is going to benefit and be able to have a normal life. But using the sample of a family member not doing anything more than normal just isn't indicative of how the treatment can be abused.
The simple fact of the matter is that raising the testosterone level in an athlete can allow them to train differently than if they were not taking testosterone, and that's going to increase if they're abusing the treatment during camp. That's the fear regarding TRT's allowance and acceptance, especially when there hasn't been a history of stringent testing to make sure things remain normal. It's not giving superhuman abilities or pushing fighters to new heights of athleticism, but it's giving them an added outside benefit that athletes in other sports are almost always denied for. And with the very real culture of cheating becoming clear in high level athletics, the image of TRT as a legalized way to use something you probably shouldn't be allowed to use continues to give the sport a poor image on PEDs.
MMATorch Readers: If you'd like a question answered on the site by MMATorch Editor Jamie Penick or MMATorch Columnist Rich Hansen, send them in to askmmatorch@gmail.com!
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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