WWE superstar, former NCAA wrestling Champion, UFC Champion and All-American badass Brock Lesnar recently made his return to the UFC: Ultimate Fighting Championship. Being one of the most dominant Heavyweight Champions in UFC history and winning the belt after four professional bouts, Lesnar was forced to retire due to illness: diverticulitis.
However, Lesnar decided to return to the octagon at UFC 200. UFC 200 was touted to be the biggest event in UFC history, as many great fighters would be fighting for championships. Lesnar was going to be making his return, possibly the biggest return in UFC history.
The event started to crumble before it happened, as a failed drug test forced Jon Jones--one of the fighters in the main event--to pull out of the fight. This killed the main event of the fight, forcing Lesnar's fight to stand-in as a co-main event alongside the Women's Bantamweight title fight.
Jones tested positive for two estrogen blockers: clomiphene and letrozole. Estrogen blockers are commonly used by athletes using steroids, as higher levels of testosterone result in higher levels of estrogen. The effects of this are hypergonadism and gynecomastia (the extreme shrinking of the testicles and extreme enlargement of the breasts respectively). Therefore, athletes will take estrogen blockers to eliminate these effects; therefore, estrogen blockers are usually a sign of an athlete taking steroids.
After UFC 200, a report was issued that Brock Lesnar tested positive for clomiphene, the same estrogen blocker Jones tested positive for. Lesnar was subjected to multiple drug tests before the fight, each coming back clean. However, the samples taken eight days and the day before UFC 200 show that Lesnar took clomiphene.
Lesnar has stated, "We will get to the bottom of this," indicating he knows nothing about the substance in his system. However, with Mendes and Jones being suspended for two years by USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency), Lesnar's positive test could not have come at a worse time for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts.
Lesnar has been the example of hard work and dedication. When asked about his tremendous size, Lesnar stated, "I'm a white boy and I'm jacked. Deal with it." Being defined as a freak athlete, it was incredible to see a marvel such as Lesnar compete. However, the shift in thought will be from awe to a wonder if freak athletes can exist organically.
Seeing Lesnar dominate in the ring as a clean fighter was a testament to his ability to keep his body in shape. Now, it is a testament to the amount of cheating that many fighters do to stay at the top of their game. Great fighters such as Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva have been sighted for taking performance-enhancing drugs.
It is unclear if the level of skill needed to succeed in the UFC can be maintained for a long career naturally, and this is troubling for the UFC. If a fighter is no longer to succeed through time without the help of a drug, it will be hard for fighters to now gain a following; less of a following means fewer established names, which means fewer fights watched by the casual fan.
These drug tests could be an indication of the decline of the UFC. Although the UFC still has plenty of great fighters, an increase in cheating may lead to a decrease in the fights watched. Performance-enhancing drugs have become a poison to the UFC, and unless this toxin is filtered out of the fighting world quickly, UFC 200 could stand as the day of the eventual fall of Mixed Martial Arts.
