One of the largest nutritional supplement retailers in the world known as Bodybuilding.com just had their offices and warehouse raided by the Food and Drug Administration(FDA). The FDA claims that they were selling Anabolic Steroids under the guise of nutritional supplements. This is either true or false depending on your definition of Anabolic Steroids and your definition of nutritional supplements for that matter.
The products the FDA was going after all contained a new breed of Designer Hormones that were becoming very popular among athletes since they worked just like the illegal steroids but could be bought at your local supplement shop. These designer steroids have proven to be just as affective and dangerous as the Anabolic Steroids that we all know about from the many fighters who have failed drugs tests. You may ask yourself how any nutritional supplement manufacturer can get away with putting real steroids in something they sell over the counter and market as a nutritional supplement. The answer is more amazing than you might think, you see at the time the US government passed the laws to criminalize Steroids, they had to list and specify which steroids would become illegal. A broad criminalization of steroids could not have worked since it would have included birth control pills and even some asthma inhalers since they all contain steroids. In order to criminalize the performance-enhancing steroids and leave the medicinal ones still available to the public, the guys responsible for writing the law had to specify which steroids where to become illegal.
Clever supplement designers began to find ways of getting around the ban on Anabolic Steroids by creating new and improved Anabolic Steroids that were not specified in the 1991 bill that criminalized compounds like Winstrol, Dianabol and others we have heard about. These new designer steroids are not listed anywhere as being either illegal or even banned and that is just the stuff that the FDA was looking for when they raided the warehouse of Bodybuilding.com one of the largest supplement retailer in the world. Although there aren’t any laws that make these designer steroids illegal, the FDA has the power to seize and recall any products or ingredients they deem to be a danger to the public health. This power has been exercised repeatedly over the past several months as they have raided and confiscated large amounts of stock from over seven different supplement manufacturers and retailers, all of which were selling designer steroids.
The Designer Steroids that have become the most popular and used among fighters have been the: 2a, 17a-dimethyl-5a-androst-3-one-17b-ol also known under the brand name “Beastdrol” and also 4-chloro-17a-methyl-androst-1,4- diene-3-17b-dio one of the ingredients in the popular product “Katanadrol” this is because these two are the ones that cause the most strength gains and fat-loss with the least amount of water retention. Most guys trying to cut weight and even go down a weight class have been known to use these two designer hormones to maintain their strength and muscle mass while cutting down layers of fat.
Every company that sells these products are getting rid of them fast and will not be stocking them again. A visit from a federal agency is something nobody wants. The guy who makes “Beastdrol” and “Katanadrol” (needtobuildmuscle.net) still has some products left in stock and announced on Friday that he will discontinue all of them by Oct 2nd. This is a smart move in my opinion.
Check out these 2 videos for more info:
Won Sik Park, affectionately known to his fans as "Parky", is a Korean fighter who is gaining a lot of notoriety in Japan for his exciting performances in DEEP, M1, and Mars. Parky lost his first MMA fight to talented grappler Fernando Vieira, and then reeled off seven impressive victories, the last three being in the DEEP promotion. He holds a 3rd degree blackbelt in Tae Kwon Do, and attacks with a ruthless variety of roundhouse kicks and flying knees with crisp punching.
Parky is making his big debut at DREAM 12 on October 25th against Kuniyoshi Hironaka, so for anyone interested in getting acquainted with him, here are a few of his fight videos. Although it's far from HD-quality, the damage he does in the first video with a high kick is a must-see. There are 5 full fight videos posted in all.
Speculation ran rampant about this match-up after the Bellator FC president mentioned that he was interested in allowing Eddie to fight in DREAM in exchange for a fighter to participate in their tournament, and also one of DREAM's latest promo videos depicted Alvarez along with Kikuno as participants for their landmark 12th show on October 6th. The Garv first reported on this match-up here.
DREAM 12 marks the first time a major Japanese MMA promotion has opted to use a cage instead of a ring, and the cage will be differentiated from its American counterparts by being completely white in color and having six sides. The organization is instituting a trial run of the white cage and the switch to three five-minute rounds instead of the usual Pride style ten-minute first and five-minute second round format.
The experiment is no doubt due to their recent agreement with Strikeforce and M1 Global to interchange fighters, and an attempt to familiarize fighters with the atmosphere of the cage and create a more level playing field to alleviate the burden presented by the different aspects of fighting in a cage versus a ring.
Also announced as lightweight participants on DREAM 12 are Won Sik Park and Kuniyoshi Hironaka. Won Sik Park, or "Parky", is a Korean who is lighting the Japanese MMA scene on fire, and is probably the fastest rising star overseas behind Kikuno. Like Kikuno, Parky is also a lightweight from the DEEP promotion; his base fighting art is Tae Kwon Do, and he's won seven straight after losing his MMA debut. He faces the crafty Kuniyoshi Hironaka on the main card alongside Kikuno/Alvarez.
The cancellation of the Swick and Kampmann fight to determine the #1 contender slot at UFC 103 has left the welterweight division barren of clear challengers to GSP's throne. UK newcomer Paul "Semtex" Daley also threw a wrench into the plans by filling in for Swick and knocking out Kampmann in the first round, erasing or delaying any hopes Kampmann had of challenging for the title.
Mike Swick is recovered and ready for action, so the UFC has selected another UK slugger in Dan Hardy to square off with Swick at UFC 105 in November. Hardy is a 22-6 fighter who is 3-0 in the UFC against respectable WW competition like Akihiro Gono, Rory Markham, and Marcus Davis. Hardy turned Markham's lights off with a vicious KO, but eeded out close split-decisions with Gono and Davis.
Swick and Hardy share many similar attributes, the most significant being that they are tall for the weight class at just over 6'0", they are long-limbed strikers who prefer to find their range on the feet, both use a western boxing based style without throwing many kicks, and both wield the power to end fights when their punches find their mark.
It is unknown whether this is a newly revised battle for top contendership, or if only Swick would avance to a GSP fight should he win. UFC 105 takes place in Manchester, and will cater to the UK crowd with several English fighters. The line-up so far includes:
Randy Couture x Brandon Vera
Michael Bisping x Denis Kang
Mike Swick x Dan Hardy
James Wilks x Matt Brown
Ross Pearson x Aaron Riley
Terry Etim x Shannon Gugerty
Paul Taylor x John Hathaway
Nick Osipczak x Matt Riddle
Alexander Gustaffson x Jared Hamman
Andre Winner x Roli Delgado
There's just a certain element of style and creativity associated with the DREAM posters and videos that I enjoy immensely.
This is a great 10 minute video hyping up the conclusion of the DREAM Featherweight Gran Prix at DREAM 11 on October 6th. The original Gran Prix fighters and brackets are reviewed and highlights of each tournament fight are shown in an entertaining medley. The survivors are paired as follows: Joe Warren vs. Bibiano Fernandes and Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Hideo Tokoro, and the winners will meet each other in the finals to culminate the evening.
The card will also feature the score-settling rubber match between Shinya Aoki and Joachim Hansen for the DREAM lightweight championship, and the semi-finals of the Super Hulk Tournament. Although he was knocked out of the first round by Minowaman, Bob Sapp will replace the injured Gegard Mousasi against Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, and Minowa versus Hong Man Choi represents the other Super Hulk semi-finalist match-up.
Tatsuya Kawajiri will also face Melchor "Barracuda" Manibusan, and Kazuyuki Miyata will take on "D.J. Taiki" Hata in the featherweight alternates bout.
Wanderlei Silva was one of my favorite fighters back when he was a young Chute Boxe demolition man cleaving his way through anyone and everyone in the Pride ring, and he remains among the top of my list still today because of the humble and mature manner he's always carried himself with. I wouldn't quite categorize him with Randy Couture, but Wand has won my respect by being a true "Axe Murderer" when he fights as well as a consummate sportsman and teammate outside of the ring.
This video follows Silva and Team Wand as they prepare an amateur fighter for the Tuff-N-Uff show at The Orleans in Vegas, but listening to Wand reflecting back on his career and reliving the physical and mental trials he went through was the real focal point for me. Silva reminisces about having to work several other jobs while fighting, the importance of persisting in your dream, starting his own event someday, and the experience of his first Vale Tudo fight in Brazil.
After a rather one-sided loss to bulletproof MW champion and part-time LHW participant Anderson Silva, Forrest Griffin bolted from the octagon back to his dressing room and remained nestled in obscurity until now.
Forrest broke his silence by speaking to MMA30.com, revealing his state of mind in the aftermath of the Silva fight, how he spent his time since then, and what potential opponents could be ahead in the future.