oh no

Say it ain't so...
Both Franca & Sherk test postitve for anabolic steroids. Hermes issued a statement apologizing, before the results came out. Sherk says nothing, will probably appeal I guess. A couple thoughts: Sherk's belt is gone, if he loses his appeal he's on the shelf for a year. Ask Frank Mir what they do to dudes that can't fight. Hermes claims to have been fighting paycheck to paycheck, got hurt, roided to get healed with eight weeks til fight night. So I guess with his $2,500 fine he still made $11,500 for the fight. That's gonna have to last a while. What about his Armory Academy? Doesn't he get paid by his students? I know it's not the lap of luxury, but come on. I guess he'll have to track down some more students or fight somewhere outside of CSAC's reach...though that will pretty much end his UFC career. What about the lightweight belt? BJ Penn was supposed to have the next shot, though he wants to fight 170, and there's a slew of others....Spencer Fisher! Joe Daddy, Din Thomas, Jens just left for WEC, Huerta, Tyson Griffin, Frank Edgar, Nate Diaz, Joe Lauzon, and so on an so forth. Good grief. What a MESS. Lordy.
I wonder how long Sherk was on the sauce? It taints them both. It taints the UFC. This is how many fighters that have tested positive? I can name Barnett, Bonnar and these two off the top of my head. Add this to the K1 show where the fight card read like a freakin pharmacy and MMA is looking kind of ugly now.

funny K-1 recap

Jake Rossen's Minute-by-Minute feature at Sherdog.com is hilarious.

11:18 p.m. Yoon contains Manhoef in his guard, but only briefly. The ring ropes appear to be made of silly string, with far too much give to them. In other words, even the inanimate objects are screwing up.

So-so UFN

Okay, I thought I'd weigh in briefly on last night's Ultimate Fight Night & TUF 5.

• Kenny Florian is cool. I liked him early and I still like him. He was fired up after that fight, screaming his head off. Anyone know what he was saying? I couldn't make it out. He showed tremendous brains & heart in that fight, getting snagged in the knee bar and escaping. The near tapout was very dramatic, and Florian/Mishima was the best fight of the night.

• Rogan made a great point about Ken-Flo: He's a normal guy who works really hard. I think that's why I like him. I hope he gets another shot at Sherk, or whoever the title holder is. Florian/Franca might be freaking great.

• Guillard has to watch his damn melon. He pretty much stuck his head in there like he was begging to be choked out.

• McNully/Hardonk was boring as hell. Ranks above, slightly, Herring/O'Brien in boredom and ineptitude.

• TUF 5 looks like it'll be loud, but maybe not awesome. The kids seem like they're putting on a show for the cameras, like all of them do. As of now I'm going to Tivo through to the fights, but we'll see.

• Can't wait for Jens and BJ to fight. There's still some prime smack flying.

• The team Jens brought with him to TUF looks great.

• Jens and Lauzon being together has already been mentioned, but is it weird that both of these guys are training fighters they'll possibly have to throw leather with? The whole thing seems set up to make everyone spaz out as much as possible. I guess that's the point.

• This interview with Joe Daddy is pretty good.

More as I think of it.