30 athletes tested - 6 popped.
And this is a test on a day that athletes know ahead of time they may be tested. If we assume (naively) they we only caught those cheating that means at the absolute minimum 20% of black belts are on the juice. This is of course utilizing the smallest possible window of testing humanly possible. And thy still pop 20%.
I’m inclined to believe RDA - as he looked very flat against Alvarez. Also, probably extended his career by going up than sticking to his guns at 155. The banning of IVs to rehydrate and other increases in USADA scrutiny have resulted in the envy of weight cut fails, banned substances being flagged Er cetera.
Despite the ref doing every sort of scoring wizardry and long 3 second counts possible (meanwhile Cobrinha’s son has refs tapping for his opponents at the brown belt level), a visibly faded Pena (tough competing without those steroids, huh?) got tapped from the back. Also declined to shake Meregali’s hand aftrerward. If you’re gonna celebrate like the end of days in winning, shake hands when you lose.
Meregali hammered through a 2 point deficit from a gift from the ref to Pena and fortunately got the one thing the ref can’t wiggle on because time was still left in the match.
33 seconds and a switch kick ended Rivera’s 20 fight win streak. Not really any other way to put it. That shin bone glancing blow was all it took. A setback for Rivera but enough other mid 5-10 ranked bantamweights to death match that he’ll be in title contention soon enough.
Alvey skates by Villante in a close fight which he fought right on the edge of danger and avoided all but a few punishing shots. Smart fight. Oh yeah, and he had Brienne of Tarth in his corner.
Gillespie from the outset smothered, dragged drown, and sapped the strength out of Pichel. Took zero chances and closed the distance and showed relentless persistence in improving position. Time for a top 5 guy for Gillespie.
Harris picked up a needed rebound after an ill-fated late replacement against Fabricio who tapped him like a white belt ( no shame in that, Fabricio is along with Big Nog gonna go down as probs the greatest HW’s for MMA/JiuJitsu - probs Frank Mir on that list as well).
Saunders reinvigorated his career with a HL finish Muay Thai knee against a time to retire Ellenberger.
Arce looked sharp and in control while punishing, evading, and with a quick back take and short choke from the back finish toward the end of the fight.
The other Teymur defeated Lentz with movement, leg kicks, and some fence grabbing and eye pokes.
Eubanks used well-time takedowns and pressure to defeat Murphy. Struggled to advance position or pass the half-guard but won the rounds.
Belal won via another U Decision Recountre. Good movement, accurate counter striking and well-timed takedowns.
Green won a sloppy kickboxing match over Tibau who seemed unable use any head movement or octagon control to get to the hips. It was a name win for Green over a very experienced UFC fighter but lackluster throughout. Not sold on Green based on the two fights of his that I have seen.
Wood submitted Eduardo with a quick Darce choke in a fight he was losing on the feet to a crafty veteran.
Torres got a pass when Brooks slammed himself into KO land aka Maynard vs Emerson. Brooks was winning the fight with sharper punching, movement and grappling up until that point. Was actually a better showing for Brooks than the more heavily hyped Torres up until that point.
Sweet. Less watching guys stand over half-guard swatting and draining clock time.
