Elsalvajeloco

Not that it is likely to happen, but I was thinking about it. I believe it was Okamoto who tweeted that suspended fighters are still subject to testing. I was wondering if USADA would ever reduce sanctions for first time offenders based on passing drug tests while on suspensions, serving a mandatory period of the sanction (maybe 12-15 months), and entering into (and subsequently completing) an anti-doping education program. If you have another violation, that would go out the window and you have to deal with a separate sanction for that violation. Plus, you can do it based on the severity of what the athlete tested positive for, the frequency in which the athlete failed (if it was multiple failures in a 1-2 month window), and the athlete's reasoning/explanation behind the failure. I think the last one is important in that I think it would take some of the tainted supplement defenses out of the equation just because people would weigh using it and possibly coming off insincere resulting in 24 months off versus coming clean and only serving half of that. Then, we would see who is really full of shit and who isn't.

Yeah, that's his first offense. He probably didn't appeal it because he admitted to not doing the research on the product he was taking and accepted what was coming with that. Plus, from what I've heard, the appeal process might be costly. If you don't have a clear path to get the sanction overturned, why go through it? Especially if we arrive at a result people already knew was going to happen.

Honestly, I enjoyed episode 2. I like that Nas' parents are just naive to believe that Box is really trying to help Nas. Thus, they have put him in even more shit.

Joanne Calderwood vs. Jessica Andrade has been added to UFC 203.

I think Magomed Bibulatov would have been in this had it not been for the tournament he's doing right now in Russia.

Here is the TUF 24 cast:

I dunno if (Cris) Cyborg is just doing stuff for the sake of doing it, but it sounds like she might announce her next fight in the UFC soon. I would not be surprised if she landed on either (202 or Vancouver) of those cards.

According to Lance Pugmire, the substance that Lesnar failed for in both tests is clomiphene. Who had two clomiphene failures in a week in the USADA pool?

Condit vs. Maia is being moved to a week later to main event the Fox card in Vancouver.

Syfy presents FUTUREWORLD!

For some reason, people in Hollywood (especially based on Spielberg's comments last year on CBMs) are persistent that Westerns are dead. So it would make sense that studios would find the western IPs they do own and remake them instead of trying to create their own (to eventually remake 20+ years later). Even though it's not a proper Western, HBO spent so, so, so much money on Westworld (which is also multi-ethnic after the original was lily white) that it has to be a success even though the title Westworld probably doesn't do anything for anyone under the age of 35. They could've you know...named it something else and probably brought in the same audience.

After the way he iced Mohammedi, I think Gvozdyk could be a big name at 175. Between Gvozdyk and Beterbiev, light heavyweight is looking a lot brighter.

I think the problem is you can never say when the live sports on TV thing might burst or more importantly, when the actual business might start trending down causing you to not be as hot a commodity. However, for thirty plus years, the right fight or right combination of fights will always sell on PPV whether the promotion is in the proverbial shitter or not. Maybe there is an ideal balance, but we have to look at it realistically based on the evidence we already have. Even though Haymon has to pay out of pocket for television time, I think the idea behind Premier Boxing Champions is to achieve that goal. Hence, why at the beginning they were adamant about using the UFC model. Make stars to do PPV, but also be able to draw a large enough audience to justify being there and increase ad revenue. The problem here is there aren't enough ready made stars and potential stars in boxing. So if this isn't working in boxing where you don't have the sheer amount of injuries and drug suspensions, it's tough for it to work in MMA. I think any fan, if they were in the spot of a Dana White or somebody like that, would say let's just reserve the big fights for PPV (maybe 6-8 PPVs in a calendar year) and have the other stuff for television. The thing is, much like we're finding out with PBC, you can't bring the 80s and 90s back. The cat is already out of the bag. Over the last 3 or 4 years, we've seen bouts on PPV (whether main event, main card, prelims) start with 2 participants and change into a bout with 2 other participants. That's how the game goes. It's very possible you get the big change where that huge main event you're planning turns into something that doesn't make anyone interested enough to buy it. You would say, "Well, we can just load up the undercard and have replacements on standby." So what about the other shows you got? You're going to sabotage those shows just to do a sellable, marketable PPV? That means you're still very much a PPV company. There are only so many times you can rob Peter to pay Paul. 2014 taught us that. Now, in 2015 and 2016, they've been able to do that just because the level of talent they have plus the talent that was returning was insane. It won't be like that always just because the sport is so unpredictable and very star driven. Can something happen down the line fifteen years from now? Sure. Definitely. However, I am not hoping for some seismic change in a niche sport. I'm not trying to fuck with something that's working and has been proven to work time after time. You put some on watchable shows (a couple big ones here and there) on Fox and keep the FS1 numbers consistent. Then you go from there because if you do that, you can get whatever you want most likely in the new TV deal. The PPV side will play out how it's going to play out. There is less you can control, but that's the risk and reward of it.

Story about the UFC sale Apparently, Fox Sports tried to buy the UFC for $3.6 billion. Also, WME-IMG might try to take the company public.

Michelle Waterson vs. Aisling Daly has been added to the UFC Hamburg card.

Hogan made it past 45 years old as a pro wrestler. He might live another 62 years.