After Nate Marquardt unexpectedly failed his medicals for “UFC on Versus 4,” keyboard warriors across the globe immediately assumed the veteran was busted for using performance-enhancing drugs. Well, you know what always seems to happen when you assume things…
While the exact reason behind Marquardt’s abrupt exile from Octagon country remains a mystery, Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission executive director Gregory Sirb confirmed with MMAFighting that PED abuse was not the cause of the 32-year-old’s indefinite suspension.
“I’ve been here 22 years and we do not embarrass anybody,” Sirb claimed Monday. “But we would have said, ‘drug test.’”
Pennsylvania’s HIPAA laws prevent the disclosure of what stopped Marquardt from performing this past Sunday inside the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh. However, the bylaws do not prohibit them from disclosing a positive drug screening.
Marquardt was previously banned by Nevada’s governing body after testing positive for high levels of nandrolone, an anabolic steroid, following his decision victory over Ivan Salaverry at “UFC Fight Night” in August 2006.
According to the PSAC’s official website, any professional fighter seeking licensing must (These requirements are similar to what other states request, including Nevada):
Provide negative HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatits C surface antigen exams.
Produce the results from their annual medical exam, which would reveal potential issues related to vision, lungs, heart rate, the nervous system, coordination and more.
Furthermore, the commission is permitted to request additional exams.
So, somewhere in the medical madness listed above is where Marquardt appears to have dropped the ball. Although he was alerted of the issue a month-and-a-half prior to Saturday’s weigh-ins, “Nate the Great” wasn’t able to fix the problem in time.
Outside of a generic tweet, Marquardt has been mum regarding the controversy. He is expected to address the issue publicly for the first time on Tuesday’s edition of The MMA Hour on MMAFighting.com.
Anna Kournikova
Hayden Panettiere
Cameron Diaz
No comments:
Post a Comment