How Bonnar, a veteran of the sport, got caught a second time is a different question. It could be he was unlucky. Perhaps he did the drug several weeks before the fight, but his system played a trick on him. Guidance on drug clearance time isn't 100 percent foolproof, which is why even experienced drug users on rare occasions get caught in what is generally considered for UFC fighters as an IQ test. Perhaps, taking the fight on relatively short notice, he did it to make sure he made weight. Perhaps it was being faced a fight with Anderson Silva, a scary proposition to just about anyone.
He's being heavily criticized, and rightly so. He broke the rules, got caught, and whatever the repercussions are, he has to live with them.
But there's a much bigger picture, bigger than Bonnar, far bigger than UFC, and that is the drug culture in our current sports scene and hypocrisy it causes. National heroes from Lance Armstrong to Marion Jones did what, behind the scenes, almost all top athletes in their respective sports did. They used performance enhancers. They were taught to lie to the bitter end, and in their cases, terribly bitter end. Unlike most who compete using performance enhancers, learn to avoid detection, don't win, and go on their merry way, they were brought down due specifically to their success.
But MMA is a different ball game. Steroids may cut a couple of tenths of a second, the difference between a gold medal and finishing in the pack, for a sprinter. They may turn a dozen long fly outs into home runs during the course of a season. They may allow one to throw the shot a little farther or lift heavier weights. In MMA, like boxing and kickboxing, usage allows you to punch or kick someone with more power and velocity, and do physical damage to your opponent. It's cheating in most sports, but the potential repercussions may be worse in MMA than most.
Yet, many people have marveled at obviously enhanced athletes doing physical damage to their opponents, and wanted to see those men, or women, get main events and championship opportunities. On rare occasion, when they test positive, it's pick your excuse, find a doctor to predate a prescription or whatever the game is that's being played.
Yet, use is plentiful. And one has to understand an athlete's mentality. In their world, it is not cheating, it is trying to be your best and performance enhancers are part of the game. So is timing when to get off them, and what to use in what dosage for maximum benefit in this specific sport. The majority of athletes on them have convinced themselves they are not cheating. And the majority of athletes not on them believe they are cheating.
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