I still think he used it specifically to help heal that horrific leg break. Why couldn't he have just said that ??
Neither of them "hurt MMA" in any conceivable way because most people in the world aren't pretentious ***s
Anderson's test "hurt" MMA in that it lost him a lot of fans and reduced his ability to draw. It also damaged his image which essentially put a black eye on the sport as a whole given that he was one of the premier faces of the sport.
It would be like Lebron testing positive for steroids. Parents aren't crazy about letting their kids worship heroes who cheat. The difference is, the NBA's testing is even more of a joke than the testing that Anderson had to pass so we know we'll never see a real NBA star test positive.
Probably cause it wasn't the case.
Are you fucking kidding me? "I was gonna order that anderson silva UFC, but now that he tested positive for steroids, I don't think so..." No one will ever fucking say that.
There is no "sport as a whole"
And even if you argue that him being suspended and being able to fight less "hurts the sport" then you're a goddamn retard because it just makes an opportunity for new star fighters to emerge.
"Parents aren't crazy about letting their kids worship..." let me just stop you right there. Like I said, most people aren't pretentious ***s. If you are, fine, but understand that most people aren't.
100% Anderson. The greatest fighter ever now looks like a liar, a cheater, and a hypocrite.
Gracie on the other hand, was the best grappler when nobody knew what grappling was.
In order for someone to become a star, they have to fight. All I claim is that when Anderson isn't main eventing, someome else will. So yes, him being suspended/injured/retired creates an opportunity for new fighters to gain media attention.The "new stars" to emerge argument doesn't hold water because his presence as a star was primarily exclusive to his division. Weidman didn't transcend because of the fall of Silva. Cain and Jones didn't suddenly break out either.
McGregor and Rousey would still have drawn their own fan bases regardless of Silva being around or not.
Just because there's an "opportunity" for a new star to emerge doesn't change the fact that there will be some lost fans whenever you have scandals like this. Just look at MLB and the Barry Bonds scandal or Tiger Woods and his cheating scandal. Or the NFL and the Ray Rice scandal.
There is never a guarantee that you'll get those lost fans back. And in any form of business it is always harder to create a new customer than to retain an already existing customer. You think it was coincidental that the UFC spent so much money partnering with USADA? Or that NSAC is suddenly cracking down on PED's?
The value of your brand as a sport has real value. And your athletes represent that value in human form by projecting your principles and values into the marketplace. When there is a disconnect between the two, between the values of your brand and the faces of your brand, it causes real damage.
I'm sure that you couldn't care less and that you kept on watching, but you're not everyone. Stuff like this means something to some people. Just because it doesn't mean a lot to you or me in terms of whether I'll watch the UFC, there's all kinds of people in the world that hold their athletes to a different standard.
Anderson.
Nobody in their right mind thinks that Royce was using PED's at UFC 1. People have to remember that the Gracies had a fanatical belief that BJJ was all you needed to beat anyone, any time, regardless of size. The prize was only $50K and they truly believed they would win given the people they had in the tournament.
People start using PED's when they either believe they have a lot to lose or when they aren't confident that they aren't going to win. Until the later UFC's, Royce had no reason to believe that he wasn't going to win on pure BJJ alone.
And it wasn't until he went to the bigger fight circuit that significant amounts of money was on the line. I personally believe that was probably when he started to take PED's... when the BJJ gap was closing fast and other more well rounded and superior athletes had nullified his initial skill advantage.
Anderson unfortunately operated in an era of highly competitive multi-disciplined athletes. Did he start out taking PED's or just take them when he got older? We'll never know. And that's the problem, you can't really point at a single point and say "Aha! That's when he must have started!" because there's really no point in his career when there wouldn't have been an incentive to use PED's either for additional strength or training recovery.