I was listening to Trigg's side project, a podcast known as TAGG Radio, yesterday during my long workday. I will say that I am a fan of Frank Trigg's insight into the MMA world. He has access to many of the top gyms in MMA, and he has some very good analyst skills. He isn't the greatest wrestler in the world, and I think he'd readily admit he's been beat bad because he didn't train in other areas of MMA that he should have, but he's a pretty good fighter. Anyways, the TAGG radio team had Keith Kizer, the NSAC Executive Director, on their show. For those who don't know, Kizer basically approves fights. That is one of his day-to-day operations he does. I must say, they asked great questions and to the credit of Keith Kizer, he answered all of them. I found a few points that were hit to be rather interesting.

First, the main point I found very interesting was the Sean Sherk appeal. Keith had stated that there were only two real ways he could possibly overturn the ruling. He would either need to prove that the test was messed with or "spiked". Now, if you aren't familiar with the testing process, Keith explained that there was a seal on the bottle, and a person from the NSAC watched the fighters take a leak, then the bottle is sealed. It is then signed by that person and the fighter, then handed off, and literally signed by every person it passes through. Obviously, if the seal is broken when it gets to the lab, it was obviously tampered with. This seems like a very unlikely defense against the ruling by Sherk's attorney. I'm sure he knows that it's nearly impossible to spike a test. The other way a fighter can potentially fight a ruling is to prove that his supplements were tainted by a trainer without any knowledge, or somehow prove that he was able to physically produce over 2 ng/ML of nandrolone in his system. Let's break this down a bit further to see how the NSAC would potentially look at this.

Kizer stated a case in the past, Orlando Salido's case in Nevada. If you don't know, Orlando Salido is the IBF Featherweight Champion, but he is under review for testing positive for steroids before the fight. Now, in comparison, Sherk tested at 12 ng/mL of nandrolone in his body. The normal is 2 ng/mL and it has been proven a high performance athlete can obtain a level of 6 ng/mL, but even that is suspicious. NSAC has highly skilled doctors that say above 2 ng/mL is an unbelievable stretch, accoding to Kizer. Salido tested at 7 ng/mL. His defense was a defense that Sherk may have quite possibly thought about using. Salido stated that the combination of cutting weight and working excessively hard was the reason he tested above 7 ng/mL. Let's get something straight, and Kizer brought this up as well. If that was the case, how many athletes would test over 2 ng/mL on a regular basis? A shitload. It would be much more common if that was the case. And it isn't. Kizer even referenced a number of cases where he believed a fighter had no knowledge he was taking steroids, but his trainer was supplementing steroids in drinks. It's the fighter's responsibility. I agree with that, I mean, if you are suddenly bulking up ridiculously and are in amazing shape for doing half to three-quarters the work you usually do to get ready for a fight, something is up. Go get yourself tested by an independent doctor. Find out, and own up to it. It'd be much more likely you could just sit out the fight, cancel it, and not face suspension. Get the drug out of your system, fire your trainer, and get back in the game clean. As far as Sherk goes, I don't see how he can win. If he proves a trainer spiked his supplements, it's his fault according to the NSAC. He won't prove that he can naturally produce 12 ng/mL nandrolone. It's not possible to produce that much unless you juice, it just isn't. He won't prove it was tainted when he tested. I mean, what else can he do? It'll be very interesting to see what happens. But Sherk is being ruled by the CSAC, not the NSAC, so we will see what happens. CSAC has proven in the past that they have some wierd decisions on cases.

If you get a chance, definitely go listen to the podcast at TAGG Radio. They also went into length about the Nick Diaz situation with his marijuana use, medical marijuana use and if fighters are going to be able to fight if they are prescribed it, and also talked about possibly rule changes in Nevada for MMA, specifically knees on the ground. Very good show, hats off to the guys at TAGG Radio.