Comments on: Howard Jacobs: Sean Sherk’s attorney talks UFC 73 steroids appeal (Video)

By: shenmen

shenmen — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 19:07:15 +0000

Any way I look at this, I think that a person has to be prudent, as well as the UFC. A fighter needs to pre-test if he is using any of the designer muscle conditioning “supplements”. Urine should be completely free of supplements and natural rules for blood and urine half lives watched meticulously. A good washout period should be used to preclude a positive test and this should be done during periods of intensive work outs. If he is taking 26 supplements a day he is drying his system out and hindering the liver’s phase 1 and 2 detox mechanisms and may build high residuals. My opinion is that the fighters need to test weekly and know where their natural baseline is and not take a chance. Amino acids can do tricky things along with fatty acid metabolism for each unique person. Kind of makes me wonder where DHEA, free testosterone, combined testosterone and so on might be on the chart as indicator testing is done. Could monitor these with saliva testing.

As a side note: if Sherk pounded as well as he wrestles, he would be a UFC hero. Wrestling control takes conditioning and just is not too exciting. The UFC should have a 1 minute per round stand up rule, then lay it on in any format that you can dominate. Kind of forces mixed part of the martial arts. But do we like all the existing rules that don’t really work.

By: GregMN

GregMN — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:37:19 +0000

SaVaGe said it…he had shoulder surgery.
Maybe some things the doctor gave him…medicine
I think something was in the meds from the doctor
tainted the test….something left over.
He was fine when he won the title. Then he had surgery.
There are many things that can come into play..that are mixed
and create a bad result. That could have happened and he did not know it and if these were the same supplements he was
taking before the surgery…then I would think the meds
had something to do with it.
Every persons “body chemistry” reacts differently to
the same thing…proven fact.
Nothing is cut and dry…black and white.
They both had traces in their tests.
The only thing that tells history is a hair sample.

By: Sherk Izajuicer

Sherk Izajuicer — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 10:35:27 +0000

As a practical matter, Sherk is all done in the UFC and probably all done as a fighter.

The CSAC has never overturned a drug suspension for a positive steroid test.
It is unlikely to start now.

Unless Sherk has unequivocal proof that the test is flawed or that he was tainted via a third party,
his suspension is going to stick.
The UFC isn’t going to risk its CA license by allowing Sherk to fight elsewhere.

It’s quite possible that Sherk took a supplement that was tainted.
It’s become an open secret that many over the counter supplements available at GNC and the like contain steroids.

It’s no excuse, you should ALWAYS know what you are putting in your body.
Ignorance is no excuse.

In March 2006, the FDA sent letters to four companies it said were distributÃ‚Âing steroids in over-the-counter dietary supplements.
Among the supplements identified at that time were Anabolic Xtreme Superdrol and Methyl 1-P.
Both had been analyzed, at The Washington Post’s request, by Don Catlin, then director of the UCLA Analytical Laboratory.
Catlin found anabolic steroids in both products.

http://www.drugfreesport.com/insight.asp?VolID=39&TopicID=7

http://www.physiquecompetitor.com/article_KnowYourSupplements.htm

http://www.edb.utexas.edu/ssn/SN_Papers/IOC%20alert-Supplement.pdf

So Sherk has retained counsel but it’s highly doubtful that anything will come of his challenge.

The CSAC will take the position that the IOC takes.
The athlete is responsible for what he or she puts in his or her body.

Sherk admittedly takes 26 supplements per day!

The IOC’s own research shows that approximately 20% of all supplements
sold for the purpose of building muscle and improving athletic performance have
been contaminated with ’steroid-like’ chemicals.
… chemicals known to cause a positive doping test

http://www.edb.utexas.edu/ssn/SN_Papers/IOC%20alert-Supplement.pdf

By: Ryan Overman

Ryan Overman — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 20:36:10 +0000

I didn’t see the video but it doesn’t really matter. Sherk is guilty, if there’s something in your system that shouldn’t be, then your guilty and you should be suspended. Strip him of the title, and get on with a new champion. Sherk is boring, his fights are absolutely terrible. I hate spending $40 on a PPV to see Sherk lay on top of his opponent and win a five round decision. If they won’t strip him of the title til later on in the year then they shuld at least crown an Interim Lightweight Champion. My vote would be BJ Penn vs. Roger Huerta, would anyone else like to see that??

By: SaVaGe

SaVaGe — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 17:34:36 +0000

Based on the video, their defense is based on Sherk’s word that he has never used steroids. My guess is tainted supplements. Even if he is a juicer and miscalced his cycle, 12ng/ml is a very low positive, especially since he tested negative for stackers and the like. His time off with shoulder surgery/therapy raises some questions.
Still, I would rather wait for the appeal before stripping the strap.
Sherk haters are hypocrites. If it was GSP or Hughes you would be singing a different tune.

By: getrawbc

getrawbc — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 17:11:36 +0000

Oh, the Sherk bashing is killing me. This is mixed martial arts guys. It’s not BOXING. All fights aren’t going to be stand and bang. If you can’t get Sherk off you, then your MMA is slacking in the ground game. If he doesn’t do anything on top but lay and pray, why hasn’t he been submitted. Don’t blame him for making your favorite fighters look bad. Blame them for knowing what his game plan is and not being able to stop it.

You wish he’s guilty and stripped, because your guys can’t strip him in a fight!!!!

By: AaronW

AaronW — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 15:09:36 +0000

[quote comment="122898"][quote comment="122703"]He says that the levels of the roids were low, but if he had 12ng when the Olympics consider 2 ng per ml to be reason to suspect doping I have to wonder how much shot he has?[/quote]
you are wrong.. a normal person can produce about 2 ng per ml, while a conditioned athlete can produce up to 6 ng per ml.. sherk had 12 ng per ml, but he works harder than most, if not all, fighters.. he also takes many supplements, but they are legal as far as he was concerned. i for one believe that he didn’t knowingly take anything illegal and i hope he gets cleared.. penn vs sherk is a lot more appealing than penn vs stevenson.[/quote]

Anyway I got the comment from “Nandrolone use is indirectly detectable in urine tests by testing for the presence of 19-norandrosterone, a metabolite of this molecule. The International Olympic Committee has set a limit of 2 ng per ml of urine as the upper limit, beyond which an athlete is suspected of doping.” from wikipedia but we know that isn’t always right.

By: AaronW

AaronW — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 14:48:31 +0000

I hope he gets stripped just because he cant finish a fight and only seems to lay on top of the other fighter until the bell rings, he drops occasional elbows but they don’t seem to ever be a danger of finishing the fight. All the excitement of the last fight was from Hermes before Sherk took him down, then it was snooze time. Of coruse Hermes was doping too…

How do you know how hard he works? This talk of him being the super-athlete that is above the rules and conditions of lesser fighters annoys me.

Sherk is my least favorite UFC fighter and I can’t wait to see BJ make him tap, if he isn’t stripped first.

Oh well we will see in October.

By: Holdin Ropes

Holdin Ropes — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 10:02:50 +0000

@ DirtyML

If someone was born with a naturally high nandrone level according to your logic they wouldn’t be allowed to compete in the UFC, simply because they would test positive.

It is not that black and white! The reason they test for nandrone is as an indication of taking steriods. You can’t just say well I don’t care about the conditions, I just care about the result.

Its against the law to take someones life, but if you are defending yourself its justifiable. Which is a perfect example of an exception to the rules based on the content of the situation. Just like the law has and is still evolving in society so too the regulations will inevitably evolve in a company as young (relatively) as the UFC.

By: D W

D W — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 23:13:31 +0000