'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
"If you're not cheating, you're not trying". Many times has this dubious quote been voiced in the history of the sport. It echoed through the MMA world a decade ago at UFC 73, when Tito Ortiz was interviewed after his bout with undefeated rising star Rashad Evans.
It was a fight The Huntington Beach Bad Boy took on 2 weeks' notice and would've still won if he hadn't grabbed the cage to stop a takedown in the second round. Ortiz, who was ahead on the scorecards, was docked a point and a 3rd round scramble from Evans would prove enough to eke out a draw.
None who follow the sport are strangers to seeing fighters grabbing the fence to avoid being taken down; it is out of pure instinct and to a certain extent, forgivable. It could be said that Tito Ortiz paid a price too high for his misstep, but what about others whose offences are more detestable? Those who took Ortiz's words to heart in a more twisted sense?
One of the biggest blights thriving in sport's underbelly is performance enhancing drugs. They are the inextricable and pernicious yin to sport's yang. In many instances, they both propel fighters to breathtaking heights and bring them down, flaming wrecks. Other than life-threatening injuries, there are very few things that can cripple a fighter's career like doping violations. Everything they've accomplished becomes smeared - wins are overturned, belts are stripped, their bank accounts lose a pound of flesh and their memory becomes disreputable.
But even when it comes to such grave offences, there exist provisions that grant fighters second chances. Here, we take a look at MMA's most infamous cases of fighters who repeatedly failed drug tests and stained their legacies:
#5. Chael Sonnen
One MMA website called Sonnen, arguably "the greatest trash-talker since Muhammad Ali", and it wasn't really an exaggeration. The standout college wrestler's first stint in the UFC (2005-06) was forgettable, but he really turned heads in his 2009 return, thanks mainly to his newfound dissing skills.
The American Gangster's hype train went steaming into his first Middleweight title bout with the legendary Anderson Silva. For four relentless rounds, Sonnen showed that he was more walk than talk as he hounded the hapless champion. Dispirited fans of The Spider thought they were witnessing the end of his reign - until he pulled off one the greatest comebacks in the history of the sport, submitting Sonnen with a triangle choke in the last round.
The epic battle, which earned FOTN and FOTY honours, was so close that a rematch was pencilled in, only to be cancelled because Sonnen failed the post-fight drug test. Urinalysis showed Sonnen had 16 times the normal amount of testosterone in a male and 4 times the upper limit stipulated by testing agencies. Sonnen was suspended for a year and fined $2500.
After his suspension ended, Sonnen beat Mark Munoz and Michael Bisping but came up short in back-to-back title shots against Anderson Silva and Jon Jones. His popularity was at an all-time high when he went into his bout with Jones and the UFC looked to ride that wave by pitting him opposite Wanderlei Silva as a coach on TUF: Brazil 3. The much-anticipated bout at UFC 175 with The Axe Murderer would never materialize, as Sonnen tested positive for 4 banned substances.
In the wake of the controversy, Sonnen would announce his retirement from MMA and have his services as an analyst for UFC and Fox Sports terminated. He would make a lukewarm return after a 2-year suspension against Tito Ortiz at Bellator 170, itself a freakshow fight that drew suspicions of being fixed. His long-overdue fight with Wanderlei Silva finally took place under the Bellator banner, which he won via UD. He is slated to face Rampage Jackson in the outfit's 2018 Heavyweight Grand Prix - if he doesn't test positive again.
#2. Josh Barnett
Seeing the way a 20-something Josh Barnett speared through his first 10 opponents, many MMA fans thought they had witnessed the arrival of the sport's next superstar. When, at just 24, he beat pioneer and legend Randy Couture to become the youngest Heavyweight champion in UFC history, it looked as though all those fans were right.
At a time when pro-wrestling and MMA were nigh indistinguishable, Barnett was one of the few who could thrive in either domain - he had the look, he was at ease in front of a camera and his grappling skills were prodigious.
Then, it all came crashing down. Barnett tested positive for banned substances twice - once after his title victory and once after the bout prior to it. He abdicated in shame and left for Japan, where he became one of PRIDE's biggest draws.
His run in Japan swung the spotlight back on him and he made what looked like a triumphant return to America under the Affliction banner. With big names like Donald Trump and Oscar De La Hoya behind it, even the UFC saw the nascent promotion as a threat.
Barnett finished Pedro Rizzo and Gilbert Yvel en route to a super fight with Fedor Emelianenko. With just 10 days to go for the spectacle and the whole MMA world's eyes peeled, disaster struck. Barnett failed a drug test, which proved the iceberg to Affliction's Titanic. The company folded a couple of days later and became a sponsor of the UFC.
Despite this, The Warmaster kept going strong and was given a slot in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, where he made it to the final before losing to Daniel Cormier. He returned to the UFC at an age when most mulled retirement and pulled off memorable wins against Frank Mir and Andrei Arlovski. In 2016, out of an alarming thirteen drug tests, one came back positive and would prove the end of Barnett's UFC and possibly, MMA career.
One of the sport's rarest grappling talents now makes small appearances on the pro-wrestling circuit.
#3. Anderson Silva
Before you start spitting out expletives, let me just say that Anderson Silva is one of my two favourite fighters of all time (guess who the other is?), and my mind was torn in two deciding if The Spider deserves this.
All said and done, he does. This isn't a Shakespearean backstabbing, but a dispassionate acknowledgement of facts. Conspiracy theorists might say that the signs were always there, floating in the edges of the picture - a "questionable substance" was spotted in Silva's house on an episode of UFC Cribs.
More than once has Silva been ordered to be wiped down for slicking his limbs and body during the course of a fight. But these were trivial in the face of his wizardry in the octagon and the fact that many of his opponents (James Irvin, Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar, Chael Sonnen) failed drug tests after falling to him.
But what is untenable is the fact that he has failed two drug tests in the USADA era. He tested positive for steroids before and after his win over Nick Diaz at UFC 183; his moment of redemption after two humiliating defeats was blackened and he was suspended for a year, not to mention fined $380,000.
The toll of time was evident in the 41-year-old Silva's lopsided defeats to Michael Bisping and Daniel Cormier in his 2016 return. He pulled one back against Dereck Brunson, but failed a drug test just a week ago and was pulled from his fight against Kelvin Gastelum.
Just 2 weeks after losing the Middleweight belt to GSP (yes, he's the other one), Michael Bisping stepped up to save the main event of UFC's maiden voyage to Shanghai. You can't help but turn your eyes down when hearing Bisping (who is one among Silva's thousands of fans) say that Silva, considered the GOAT, has completely destroyed his legacy.
#4. Brock Lesnar
Most fighters make an impression with their fighting style, just as they should. Some do it with a mic in their hands but don't exactly steamroll their opponents the way they claimed. Then there are those, just the sight of whom can make fans stop whatever they're doing and take notice. Brock Lesnar is one of them.
The Beast was the cynosure of all eyes wherever he went - the WWE, the NFL and the UFC. And he knew it. Just 5 months after making it to the main roster, a 25-year-old Lesnar would become WWE Champion, the youngest in the company's history. Two short but glittering years later, Lesnar would leave for the NFL, where he was signed by the Minnesota Vikings. When things didn't work out the way he hoped, Lesnar set a course for the UFC and became Heavyweight Champion in just his third fight in the company.
After losing to Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem, Lesnar revealed he was beset with health issues and retired from MMA. The WWE was quick to snap him up and it was assumed that was where he would stay. But in June 2016, it was announced that Lesnar would return for a one-off fight at UFC 200, their landmark event. Though he was stepping into the octagon for the first time in 5 years, Lesnar didn't miss a beat in his win over Mark Hunt. He set the UFC record for largest fight purse at the time, earning $2.5 million for 15 minutes in the octagon. This was the third event with over a million PPV buys that Lesnar was a part of, the previous being UFC 100 and UFC 116.
Things started to unravel a couple of weeks later when it surfaced that Lesnar had tested positive for a banned substance. He was fined $250,000, suspended for a year from the fight and his win was overturned to a no contest. An outraged Mark Hunt filed a lawsuit against the UFC alleging that they allowed Lesnar to compete despite not being part of the testing pool for the prerequisite period. That wasn't the only time Lesnar faced such accusations. In 2001, was arrested in Louisville, Kentucky for possessing anabolic steroids, but wasn't charged with anything because the substances were reportedly legal.
Lesnar announced a second retirement from MMA this February, but there was a slight buzz about a possible comeback. That is, until...
#1. Jon Jones
At one point, it seemed as though Jon Jones would be remembered in the same vein as Muhammad Ali or Michael Jordan. Today, his name is uttered in the same breath as Lance Armstrong and Diego Maradona.
Jones seemed too good to be true - a 205er with the reach of a Heavyweight, the athleticism of a Welterweight, and a creativity and maturity beyond his years. After beating undefeated Andre Gusmao on two weeks notice in his UFC debut, there was no looking back for Jones. He became the youngest champion in UFC history at 23 and none of his challengers had an answer for him. But Bones' most dangerous opponent was inside his own head.
The trappings of success at such a young age were evident as early as 2012, when an inebriated Jones totalled his $190,000 Bentley. Amidst all the fanfare at UFC 182, it was reported that cocaine metabolites had been found in Jones' pre-fight drug test. But this was pre-USADA and that specific substance wasn't banned by WADA when detected in out-of-competition samples. Jones was fined $25,000 and spent one night in rehab. His abnormally low testosterone/epitestosterone ratio before the fight raised suspicion of him using PEDs.
Jones was stripped of his title and spent over a year away from the sport because of the infamous 2015 hit-and-run incident. It was announced that he would rematch Cormier at UFC 197, but an injury to the latter would turn his vaunted return anticlimactic. Ovince St. Preux, who stepped in on a few weeks notice, was swept by Jones in a five-rounder.
Just a few days before what promised to be an electric rematch at UFC 200, Jones tested positive for a banned substance and was suspended for a year. The much overdue rematch finally happened at UFC 214 this July. Jones proved dominant by becoming the first man to stop Daniel Cormier and reclaimed his precious crown. When he called out Brock Lesnar, the fans erupted and we're sure the UFC boardroom did too.
A few weeks after his moment of glory, it was reported that Jones had tested positive for an anabolic steroid. Daniel Cormier was reinstated as champion and fans who had received the Prodigal Son with open arms were swift in labelling him a cheat.
If found guilty, Jones could be suspended for four years. But as Joe Rogan theorized, it is still possible for him to make a return at 34, at Heavyweight, nonetheless.
