CSAC's "punishment" of Chael Sonnen is a joke
For punishment or a penalty to be effective it must be severe enough to dissuade a reasonable person from committing a particular act.
Main event caliber UFC athletes only fight 2 or 3 times a year. So a 6 month lay off between fights is common, to be expected and by many fighters welcomed after a long, tough, grueling 5-round fight and the equally arduous training camp that preceded it.
So how is a 6-month suspension a penalty? It's rest... rest that he was likely planning to take anyway.
It's like suspending a school kid for the summer. Or your boss telling you at 5 pm on Friday that you're suspended and not to come back to work until Monday morning..."when you have your mind right".
Hello.
He can still train.
He will continue to earn money from ALL other sources outside of the octagon which commonly pay far more than a fight purse or fight of the night bonus.
And the $2,500 is pocket change for an elite UFC fighter.
CSAC, If you're not going to fairly and vigorously enforce a rule then why have it?
Main event caliber UFC athletes only fight 2 or 3 times a year. So a 6 month lay off between fights is common, to be expected and by many fighters welcomed after a long, tough, grueling 5-round fight and the equally arduous training camp that preceded it.
So how is a 6-month suspension a penalty? It's rest... rest that he was likely planning to take anyway.
It's like suspending a school kid for the summer. Or your boss telling you at 5 pm on Friday that you're suspended and not to come back to work until Monday morning..."when you have your mind right".
Hello.
He can still train.
He will continue to earn money from ALL other sources outside of the octagon which commonly pay far more than a fight purse or fight of the night bonus.
And the $2,500 is pocket change for an elite UFC fighter.
CSAC, If you're not going to fairly and vigorously enforce a rule then why have it?
Posted by Johnny Benjamin MD at 12/3/2010 6:54 AM 
Categories: MMA
Tags: Chael Sonnen PED California State Athletic Commission UFC
Categories: MMA
Tags: Chael Sonnen PED California State Athletic Commission UFC
The drug-testing in MMA and Boxing are a joke anyway. Anything else than olympic style testing allows the fighters to take drugs during training camp and therefore have better training. If someone like Chael gets caught it just shows that the person was to stupid to do it right. This suspension shortening just show how much of a joke the whole damn system is. Get olympic style testing and you will have a cleaner sport, thats how I see it!
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