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Monday, Jun 06, 2005

Wef Middleweight Champion Levine And Opponent Helwig Cited For Alleged Stimulant/steroid Use



WEF Middleweight Champion Levine and Opponent Helwig Cited for Alleged Stimulant/Steroid Use
By Loretta Hunt

Two more mixed martial artists have come under scrutiny in the state of Nevada, where post-fight drug testing conducted by its State Athletic Commission revealed evidence of alleged steroid and stimulant use.

In standard urinanalysis tests conducted following a WEF Middleweight Championship bout held May 20th at the Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, challenger Marty Helwig tested positive for nandrolone metabolite. Opponent and defending champion Jamie Levine’s results tested positive for the stimulants phendimetrazine and phenmetrazine, drugs that are not approved for use by the NSAC.

Often utilized for weight loss purposes, phendimetrazine and its derivatives can also cause "increased alertness, excitation, euphoria, increased pulse rate and increased blood pressure," according to the Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuses website. Popular steroid nandrolone metabolite is often utilized for its muscle building properties.

Helwig and Levine, the sixth and seventh MMA candidates to be cited for illegal drug use by the NSAC, were notified of the infractions via certified mail dated June 3rd. They will have 20 days following the date of notification to respond in writing to the charges. A NSAC hearing scheduled for this Thursday will ask the Commission to ratify the temporary suspensions imposed until a formal hearing can be scheduled, where the two fighters will have the opportunity to address the Commission’s five-member board. NSAC representative Keith Kizer anticipates this hearing will be scheduled for August. To Kizer’s knowledge, this was the first instance in the NSAC’s history that two combatants facing each other failed their separate drug tests.



Penn’s Prelim Hearing Today;
Lawyer Contends Fighter was Pursued by Officer to His Car
By Loretta Hunt

Former UFC Welterweight Champion and current K-1 MMA competitor BJ Penn is scheduled for a preliminary hearing this afternoon in the Waikiki District Court of 7C in Hawaii. The local fighting celebrity has been charged with assaulting District Six Waikiki police officer Richardson Pouoa in the first degree, as part of a multi-person altercation which started outside the Club Zanzabar on May 8th, the site of Rumble On the Rock 7’s afterparty proceedings.

In court documents obtained by FCF, Officer Pouoa, working a Special Duty assignment that evening at the nightclub, contends Penn punched him on the "left cheek area of his face" and attempted to flee. At the time, Pouoa says he was attempting to break up a large fight outside the club. Pouoa has stated that Penn and others involved in the fracas did not comply with the Officer’s repeated instructions to leave the area and that he deployed police-issued O.C. spray in Penn’s direction from a distance of 4 to 6 feet prior to the alleged assault.

"The information that we have is that BJ was trying to leave," Penn’s lawyer Michael Green says, "and actually left the car at one point to try and help his brother who was getting the crap beat out of him, and then they went back to the car."

According to an anonymous witness close to Penn that spoke with FCF, the officer pursued Penn to his car and held the vehicle door open, impeding the fighter’s exit from the scene. Attorney Green concurs that his witnesses have described the same scenario.

"The cop said something to BJ in the backseat and the cop was standing on the street and BJ had something to say to him and the cop reached into the car and blasted him in the face from probably half a foot full-on with mace," Green explains.

"The one witness who I spoke with who was a security guard, who really didn’t know BJ that night, said BJ jumped out of the car like his head was on fire," Green continues. "It looked to her like all he was trying to do was that his arms were waving and he was trying to clear his eyes and get the fumes away from him, and this cop grabbed him. I don’t think he had a clue who it was who grabbed him and he had just been punched and kicked earlier. So, there was no intention to hurt anybody and he certainly didn’t know it was a police officer."

Penn’s preliminary hearing today to determine probable cause in the case should also introduce a circuit court arraignment date. Although Penn’s legal representation already entered a "non guilty" plea for his client at his initial court appearance on May 12th, the Honolulu Prosecutor’s office said a formal plea will be entered at the arraignment.



TUF 2 Filming Begins;
NSAC Grants UFC Confidentiality Waivers; Couture Replaces Ford as "Challenge" Host
By Loretta Hunt

(LAS VEGAS)-As its participants converged on the UFC’s Official Training Center yesterday to begin filming of the second season of The Ultimate Fighter, don’t expect to hear much from its front lines. The series, which brought knockout ratings for Spike TV in its inaugural run this fall and winter, will chronicle the paths of eighteen fighters vying for two UFC contracts under the tutelage of coaches and UFC champions Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin, and Zuffa LLC has secured regulatory waivers to ensure its results remain a secret until airtime which begins August 22nd.

Last week, the Nevada State Athletic Commission approved the UFC’s petition to keep the series’ weigh-ins and subsequent bouts between its competitors closed to the public, as well as its results private until they air on Spike TV. The UFC was also granted flexibility with its general schedule of fights, and waived the regulation to provide the minimum twenty rounds required to hold an event in Nevada. Kirk Kendrick, COO and main counsel for Zuffa, also requested the same provisions for TUF’s third season, to begin shooting at the end of this year. Kendrick was told he’d have to submit a separate petition at a later time.

Unlike last season’s petition, all fights appearing as part of the series will be 3 five-minute rounds. A number of them set up at 2 five-minute rounds, all of last season’s bouts, excluding its live finale, were deemed exhibitions that did NOT apply to the fighter’s professional records. The NSAC confirms that it will be at the promotion’s discretion to decide the status of this season’s bouts.

In addition, 5-Time UFC champion and TUF Season 1 coach Randy Couture has been tapped as a consultant for the "challenges" utilized on the series. Not only will Couture assist in creating the tests that often decided who’d square-off next in the series, FCF has been informed he will also introduce the contests on-camera, replacing pop starlet Willa Ford, who was billed as last season’s host.

posted by Full Contact Fighter @ 8:00 pm
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