It is surprising that this story has not blown up any bigger, but lab coat drug dealer and former supervising pharmacist at Applied Pharmacy Service J. Michael Bennett was found guilty of selling anabolic steroids earlier this year.
J. Michael Bennett isn’t important when it comes to the world of MMA, but one of the 22 people listed as recipients of Bennett’s steroid distribution included what appears to be Shane Carwin, a UFC heavyweight contender.
It is important to stress that on the document as reported by mmajunkie all that appears are the initials of Shane Carwin “S.C.” so there isn’t hard evidence just yet. It is also important to note that the career description for “S.C.” on the document is “professional fighter” and the clinic where the steroids were shipped is located in Colorado, which coincidentally happens to be Carwin’s home state and place of residence.
The substances delivered to “S.C.” include Trenbolone, Testosterone, Stanozolol injectable, and Nandrolone over a period of eight months starting in early 2006.
Whether or not Carwin is guilty of purchasing and using steroids is debatable and unless a decision is made to prosecute any of the 22 people listed on the document, we will probably never know.
In any case, it would be no surprise to find out that there are fighters in the UFC who take steroids—Chris Leben and Sean Sherk are two of many fighters who have failed testing already. Mixed Martial Arts, like any other sport, involves a quest for finding any kind of edge to make it to the top.
An interesting side story that has come out of the controversy surrounding Shane Carwin and alleged steroid use is the exchange in tweets that he and Roy Nelson have made on their Twitter accounts.
Roy Nelson tweeted the following on August 14 at around 5:00 P.M. E.T. in response to what the media was saying (or not saying) about Carwin being involved in a steroid scandal:
“Let see if real news sources investigate the steroid claims, mmajunkie, mmaweekly, sherdog, ESPN, etc I like good news”
“I am surprised that athletes in mma do steroids ;( that explains body types”
“Just woke up and was reading the mma news websites and only one had real news ufc champ Shane carwin steroids court case”
Shortly after on August 16, Shane Carwin posted the following on his Twitter account:
“@BiggBDogg what surgery? Roy getting the lap band? about 20 hours ago via TweetCaster in reply to BiggBDogg”
“@mbish86 you are wrong. I was a spectator that night and he flipped me off. Plus if he wants his second loss in the UFC ill give it to him”
“I love Roy Nelson trying to elevate his status by talking smacks. Hopefully he is doing so on a treadmill. Some have rolls he has a bakery.”
Although Carwin and Nelson aren’t having a direct conversation, it seems as though a rivalry has developed and it is beyond hyping up a possible fight.
Reading the tweets made by Nelson makes one wonder whether or not they really deserved the kind of tweets Carwin was posting. Carwin appeared to be getting personal with Nelson, whereas Nelson appeared to just be making a general and valid observation that it is weird that there isn’t more media attention accorded to this scandal—usually steroid cases are headliner material.
After digging a little further, one finds out that Roy Nelson recently told Steve Coefield from Yahoo Sports that Shane Carwin wasn’t in a real choke against Brock Lesnar and that he gave up against the heavyweight champion and wasn’t really blacking out.
So some bad blood has built up between Shane Carwin and Roy Nelson, but this is the first time we've seen Carwin launch personal attacks and insults at an individual fighter. Shane Carwin usually sticks to stating facts and remaining civil, but making fun of Nelson’s figure and knee surgery isn’t something fans are used to seeing from him.
Maybe Carwin is getting a little defensive about the alleged steroid use, or he doesn’t like to be called a quitter; in any case, Nelson seems to have been pushing Carwin’s buttons.
It is too bad Nelson won’t be fighting Carwin anytime soon, seeing as how he is out of commission after his knee surgery and has subsequently called out Antonio Nogueira, who also happens to be injured and scheduled to come back around the same time as Roy.
Nelson planting the trash talking seed with Carwin early could build up a lot of hype for any future bout the fighters might have down the road. Remember the hype that developed when the Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans rivalry was allowed to simmer for so long?
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