No one can accuse the fighters in Bellator of not being drug tested anymore. The first fighter in the history of Bellator MMA to fail a drug test that we are aware of is none other than Steven Artoff, who tested positive for marijuana following his Bellator 96 loss to Justin McNally. The news was broken by Steven Marrocco of MMAjunkie.com, who confirmed the positive drug test with sources close to the event. Artoff will have a hearing with the overseeing commission next month to explain himself. According to Marrocco’s report, Artoff actually told the Chickasaw Nation’s Office of the Gaming Commissioner that he would test positive for marijuana — before the fight. If the commission — who declined to comment on the matter, other than to say they did randomly drug test fighters on the card — knew that a fighter competing in their jurisdiction had a banned substance in their system, even if it’s marijuana, they should have pulled that fighter from the card immediately. Artoff, who is 5-2 in his pro MMA career, lost to McNally via submission, his second loss in a row, and if this positive drug test holds up I would expect Bellator to cut him from their roster. Yes, he is an intriguing prospect since he’s only 21 years old and is 6’2″, yet fights in the bantamweight (135 pounds) division, but Bellator can use all the good publicity they can get right now and having a fighter on the roster who tested positive for a banned substance if obviously not something that is viewed positively. We’ll see what comes from this, but it certainly is an interesting development and it shows that Bellator fighters are indeed drug tested, even if there are fans out there that find it hard to believe that if their fighters are drug tested, it took so long for someone to finally be caught. Swanson Asks For Title Shot Or Lamas UFC featherweight contender Cub Swanson, who is fresh off a KO win over Dennis Siver at UFC 162, today told MMAjunkie.com that he would like a title shot against the winner of UFC 163’s Jose Aldo vs. The Korean Zombie or a rematch with Ricardo Lamas. Although I believe Swanson has earned a title shot with five-straight wins, including four by knockout, in the deep featherweight division, I believe Lamas should get a crack at the winner of Aldo and The Korean Zombie first because he beat Swanson at UFC on FOX 1 and hasn’t lost a fight since then and has looked ultra impressive in his own right. It wouldn’t be fair at all to Lamas if he didn’t get a crack at the belt first, since he did beat Swanson, and so I highly doubt he accepts a rematch. Instead, look for Lamas to get a shot at the Aldo vs. Zombie winner and for Swanson to fight Frankie Edgar at some point later this year in what could be a potential title eliminator between two of the top studs at 145 pounds.
