Sport review 08.01.2015
08.01.2015
UFC champ Jon Jones enters rehab after testing positive for cocaine
UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones announced Tuesday that he has entered a drug treatment facility.
The
announcement came just days after Jones defeated Daniel Cormier on
Saturday in the main event of UFC 182 at the MGM Grand Garden in a
five-round decision that left many considering him as the greatest mixed
martial arts fighter of all time.
But in a random drug test
given to him on Dec. 4 by the Nevada Athletic Commission, Jones tested
positive for benzoylecgonine, the main metabolite in cocaine.
The
Nevada commission follows the World Anti-Doping Agency code and
benzoylecgonine is not banned out-of-competition. As a result, the
commission was unable to penalize Jones or prevent him from fighting
despite knowing of the positive test.
It conducted a follow-up
test later in December that Jones passed. Yahoo Sports was unable to get
the exact date of the second test that Jones passed.
Jones released a statement to Yahoo Sports through his attorney acknowledging his problem.
“With the support of my family, I have entered into a drug treatment
facility. I want to apologize to my fiancée, my children, as well as my
mother, father, and brothers for the mistake that I made. I also want to
apologize to the UFC, my coaches, my sponsors and equally important to
my fans. I am taking this treatment program very seriously. Therefore,
at this time my family and I would appreciate privacy.”
The UFC released the following statement in regards to Jones:
“We support UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones’ decision to enter
a drug treatment facility to address his recent issue. While we are
disappointed in the failed test, we applaud him for making this decision
to enter a drug treatment facility. Jon is a strong, courageous fighter
inside the Octagon, and we expect him to fight this issue with the same
poise and diligence. We commend him on his decision, and look forward
to him emerging from this program a better man as a result.”
Nevada
commission chairman Francisco Aguilar said the commission is going to
discuss out-of-competition drug tests at its next meeting and whether to
break from the WADA code in similar situations.
“I am pleased that Mr. Jones is addressing this issue and seeking help for his problem,” Aguilar said.
The
test given to Jones was analyzed for anabolic agents, peptide hormones,
growth factors and related substances, beta-2 agonists, hormone and
metabolic modulators, diuretics and other masking agents, stimulants,
narcotics, canabinoids and glucocorticosteroids.
Alistair Overeem vs. Roy Nelson slated for UFC 185
Heavyweight
hitters will collide when Alistair Overeem and Roy Nelson meet on March
14, 2015 in Dallas, TX, at UFC 185. UFC officials confirmed the bout
Tuesday following an initial report from The Dallas Morning News.
Both Overeem, No. 11, and Nelson, No. 9, are ranked within the UFC\’s media-generated heavyweight rankings.
Overeem (38-14, 1 NC) most recently scored a career-saving first-round knockout over Stefan Struve this past December.
The
win snapped a troublesome slump for the former Strikeforce/Dream/K-1
champion, as Overeem had suffered grisly knockout losses in three of
previous four bouts, including a dramatic first-round defeat at the
hands of Ben Rothwell that left many questioning whether the 34-year-old
should retire from the sport.
Instead he\’ll meet Nelson (20-10), a 38-year-old slugger who\’s fallen on similarly hard times of late.
A loser of three of his last four fights, Nelson suffered a highlight-reel knockout loss to Mark Hunt in his most recent outing.
UFC
185 takes place at Dallas\’ American Airlines Center and airs live on
pay-per-view. UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis looks to defend
his title against top contender Rafael dos Anjos in the night\’s main
event.
Tim Sylvia retires from MMA
Former UFC heavyweight
champion Tim Sylvia announced his retirement from professional mixed
martial arts on Saturday, shortly after he failed to receive medical
clearance for a scheduled contest.
Sylvia, 40, was supposed to fight Juliano Coutinho at a regional event in Uncasville, Connecticut, on Saturday.
According
to Sylvia\’s manager, Monte Cox, the Mohegan Department of Athletic
Regulation did not realize Sylvia had reached the age of 40 until very
recently. He is listed on various MMA websites as 38 years old.
Due
to Sylvia\’s age, he was required to submit additional medical
documents, including a stress test and MRI, as part of his license
application. When a last-minute MRI revealed irregularities, Sylvia was
denied a license and subsequently retired.
“The commission didn\’t
realize Tim was over 40 until three days before the event,” Cox told
ESPN.com. “There were some things on the MRI that weren\’t on another MRI
we had on file from 2003, meaning something happened over the course of
the last 11 years. A neurologist said it could be something or it could
be nothing.
“I think it\’s the end. He had gotten to a point
where his body, through all the wars, just wasn\’t able to get in the
kind of shape he used to. Obviously, you could see that in his weight.
He just can\’t get into competitive form. I think [retirement] is good.
With this MRI, why go on, when you\’re only getting paid a fraction of
what you\’re worth?”
How long the irregularities have existed are
unknown. Due to his fighting internationally and on smaller shows,
Sylvia hasn\’t been forced to submit an MRI in years. Cox said the last
MRI the fighter underwent was in 2005. Sylvia has suffered three
knockout losses in his career.
“He can go back and get another
MRI in a year, but basically what they\’re saying is there\’s damage from
blunt force trauma,” Cox said. “He\’s got damage there. Does it affect
his everyday life? Not so far. Not that he can tell — but it\’s
certainly something to pay attention to.”
Sylvia will retire with
a professional record of 31-10. Currently living in Davenport, Iowa,
Sylvia made his UFC debut in September 2002. He won the heavyweight
title at UFC 41 via knockout against Ricco Rodriguez in February 2003.
He successfully defended the title later that year, but was stripped of
the belt after he tested positive for a banned substance.
He won
the UFC title a second time in April 2006, defeating Andrei Arlovski via
first-round TKO. His final UFC appearance took place in February 2008,
after which he compiled a 7-6 record.
Klitschko-Jennings negotiations have stalled
By Scott
Gilfoid: The negotiations for the fight between IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO
heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (63-3, 53 KOs) and unbeaten #3
WBC, #6 IBF Bryant Jennings (19-0, 10 KOs) has reportedly stalled for
some reason.
They were supposed to be facing each other on April
25th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Wladimir’s management
are now considering Shannon Briggs or possibly the winner of the
January 17th fight between WBC champion Bermane Stiverne and Deontay
Wilder as the replacement opponent if the Jennings fight can’t be
negotiated.
Klitschko’s management are going to wait a couple of
weeks and see what happens. It’s likely they’ll be waiting on the
Stiverne-Wilder fight to get through in order to possibly line up a
unification fight against Deontay Wilder if he comes out on top.
A
Wladimir vs. Wilder fight would be a huge event in the United States,
and definitely one of Wladimir’s bigger fights since his win over David
Haye four years ago.
“At this moment we are far from an
agreement. Bryant Jennings was our top choice. Was. At this time, our
negotiations have stalled. An opponent can be anyone who is available
for that date and who will be approved by our partners HBO in USA, and
RTL in Germany,” said Wladimir’s manager Berndt Boente via
sport.segodnya.ua.
The Klitschko-Jennings fight doesn’t figure to
be a big deal in the United States. While Jennings is an unbeaten
fighter with a couple decent wins on his resume, he’s not well known by
the casual boxing fans, and he lacks punching power and size.
He’s
a good heavyweight, but his lack of size, power and notoriety makes a
fight between him and Wladimir a less than huge event in the U.S.
Deontay is clearly the better option because of his 6’7” frame, huge
punching power and his fan friendly way with the media.
Wilder
has a lot of charisma and that makes him the ideal guy for Wladimir to
be facing right now. Additionally, Wladimir is familiar with Deontay
after using him as his No.1 sparring partner to help get ready for
Wladimir’s fight against Mariusz Wach in 2012.
Deontay has
improved a lot in the last two years since that time, but I’m sure that
Wladimir got a good taste of Deontay’s punching power and knows what
he’s up against if he were to face him.
Wladimir is coming off of
a 5th round stoppage win over Kubrat Pulev in his last fight in
November. It was a one-sided fight from start to finish due to Pulev not
having the punching power to make it a competitive match-up.
Cro Cop Finished Ishii
UFC vet and former Pride champion
Mirko “Cro-Cop” Filipovic ended the year with a bang literally as he
retained the IFCF heavyweight title with a TKO of Olympic judoka Satoshi
Ishii in the main event of Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2014. The event took place
December 31st at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan.
In their
first meeting in August Filipovic earned a second-round TKO to take
Ishii’s belt., in this rematch it took the Croatian sensation just over
two minutes longer to achieve the same end. For the first round Ishii
clinched, hip-tossed, and elbowed Filipovic to win the round. In the
second Filipovic managed to get Ishii off him long enough to return to
his feet then right before the bell landed a shin to the temple that
dazed Ishii. Filipovic swarmed in to finish the fight but it was
between rounds when Ishii was still dazed and bleeding heavily that the
ref called off the bout. Filipovic now stands 30-11-2 while Ishii drops
to 12-4-1.
To nobody’s surprise Shinya Aoki defeated Yuki
Yamamoto by first-round submission. Yamamoto attempted to throw a knee
to Aoki’s head as the One FC champion shot for a takedown but that was
about all he managed to do. Aoki nailed the takedown and seemed to be
going for a rear-naked choke when he instead applied a twister for the
win at 1:21. Aoki exits the ring 37-6 with seven wins in a row,
Yamamoto’s record drops to 6-7.
Also on the card Chris Barnett
upped his record to 13-1 with seven wins in a row as he defeated
Shinichi Suzukawa by TKO. Barnett got Suzukawa down and took his back
where he elected to use strikes instead of forcing a submission, earning
the TKO at just under two minutes.