Another UFC (MMA) fighter has been busted for weed.
Francisco Trevino tested at 69ng/ml for THC-COOH after UFC 192 (03 October, Houston, Texas). He tested at 69ng/ml, which is below the UFC/WADA threshold, but unfortunately for Trevino, the UFC were compelled to abide by the host state's sports authority's more conservative 50ng/ml limit. He received an immediate 90-day suspension for the prohibited substance positive, with other punitive actions likely to follow an official review.
Tough night all around for Trevino. First, he missed weight four pounds, so the fight was conducted at a "catch weight," and win, lose or draw, he would forfeit 20% of his earnings on the evening to his opponent for failing to make weight. Then his opponent, highly touted UFC rookie Sage Northcutt, TKOs him in the first minute of the first round.
And then to complete his
faux pas trifecta, after the fight, Trevino laid his hands on referee Herb Dean. Not once, but twice.
Minor shoves, nothing thrown with malice, but UFC code of conduct expressly forbids touching the referee in any fashion (although a friendly gesture, such as a pat on the back, likely would be overlooked). The first shove occurred whilst Dean was bear-hugging the fighter, who in his addled condition apparently did not realise the contest had ended, and Dean felt the embrace necessary to prevent him attempting to re-engage his opponent. But the second shove occurred after Trevino had broken contact with Herb, then he closed with the referee to shove him a second time.
Trevino claims he was only trying to secure the referee's attention, but that argument likely will fall on deaf ears as there is no UDRS/Instant Replay in UFC. The referee's signal that the bout has ended is final and incontestable. It's strictly
"card laid, card played," so had he succeeded in securing Herb's attention, nothing he might have said could have altered the outcome.
Herb has stated he will not pursue any punitive action over the infractions, nor would I expect him to, considering the lack of intent. But that doesn't mean higher authority will share Herb's largess. The UFC's spin-meister, VP of PR Dave Sholler, has stated it is "unacceptable" ever to put your hands on anyone save your opponent, but AFAIK neither he nor any other UFC official has spoken to a possible consequence.
Trevino was 12-0-0 before signing with UFC, but this loss puts him at 1-2-0 in the new venue. I see nothing either in his past performance or his future promise that would curry him any favour with the Lord High Executioner, particularly when it comes to the offence of manhandling of one of his most sacred cows. I frankly am surprised that White hasn't already announced the intended date of the drawing and quartering. Random posters in the MMA forums regularly have been applying the dread "WWE" word to this incident, and part of Dana's charter must needs include defence of the sport's legitimacy in the face of such allegations. The UFC has an ongoing defamation suit against Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva over allegations of fight fixing he posted on Twitter (Silva having had his knickers in a twist ever since he was fired by White last year for dodging an OOC). In this instance, failure to punish -- and punish severely -- would IMHO set a dangerous precedent. But for Dana's sentence to have carried maximum effect, I should have thought Trevino would have received his notice of redundancy while he was towelling off after his post-fight shower.
Regarding Rousey's statement to the USADA vampires in Brazil, I find it a sad reflection on the state of professional sport that her most difficult opponent might be the public perception that there are no 'clean' sports, therefore any athlete who comes to dominate must by association be guilty of doping. One lesson learnt from the Lance Pharmstrong debacle was never to speak in absolutes about an athlete --
any athlete -- being clean, however, I see none of the hallmarks of PEDs in RRR's history. Her progression nowhere went on "fast-forward," as had been the case with other MMA noteworthies such as Anderson 'The Spider' Silva. Even her newfound punching prowess has been carefully scrutinised, and detailed in a Bleacher Report online article titled, "
The Slow, Steady Evolution of Ronda Rousey's Striking."
But I am inclined to believe her statement was genuine if for no other reason than she can't act for ***. RRR has gone to great lengths to see to it we also get to scrutinise her acting prowess, and she might well be the worst athlete-turned-film-actor since "The Governator" Arnold Schwarzenegger in his pre-Conan period. If her "spontaneous" remark to the USADA men had come off even half as stiff and contrived as has every line she yet has delivered on film, I am comfortable that the USADA agents would have seen straight through her, and would have alerted Novitzky of their suspicions. And either that wasn't how it was conveyed to Novitzky, or he is pulling one hell of a feint, all the while focusing on Rousey like a laser.