On Sunday, ESPN's "Outside the Lines" shared the heart-wrenching story of Rad Martinez, an aspiring fighter who is also responsible for taking care of his father, who suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car accident. The story is on the long side, but well worth your time:
Even with all those responsibilities, Martinez has put together a 9-2 record which includes a win over UFC veteran Joe Brammer. Now, Martinez has been signed to fight with Bellator in their featherweight tournament. From the Bellator press release:
"Rad not only has an incredibly uplifting, powerful story, but he's also a fierce competitor who will be a great addition to the Bellator family," said Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney. "We're proud to have Rad under the Bellator banner, and expect big things from him inside the Bellator cage."
In the featherweight tournament, Martinez will be in the cage with such fighters as Patricio Pitbull, Pat Curran, Ronnie Mann, and Marlon Sandro. If he wins the tournament, he will face featherweight champ Joe Warren. All of these fighters train full-time, and have been doing so for years.
One of the challenges that Martinez faces is that he doesn't get as much training time as his competitors, which can be downright dangerous in the cage. Hopefully, Bellator will give Martinez the support he needs before his fight so that he can be as well-prepared as his opponents when he gets in the cage.
Testosterone replacement therapy may have been sports' dirty little secret, but Chael Sonnen and Nate Marquardt changed that with their highly publicized run ins with state commissions in California, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Those are some of the leading commissions in the country yet there's no standard policy and plenty of gray area to allow fighters to, at a minimum, enhance their performance between fights and during training camp.
The confusion over TRT really concerns UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta.
"What you can't have are guys abusing this to the point where their levels are at some super-human factor, giving them this performance enhancement," Fertitta told ESPNRadio1100's "The MMA Insiders" show in Las Vegas.
Fertitta says testing right before and after a fight isn't enough to prevent fighters from abusing TRT.
"There's got to be more random testing. It seems like, possibly, guys are getting outside the boundary while they're training and managing it down where once the week of the fight [has arrived], they take the test and they're fine. I think that there needs to be this random testing to make sure no one's abusing it," said Fertitta (1:25 mark).
For the UFC, there is no gray area concerning TRT.
"I think we came off with a pretty strong response to Nate Marquardt, and kind how we feel about TRT," Fertitta said. "Our stance is we're working with commissions to say 'look this whole thing has got to come to an end.' If you are going to have some kind of therapy, not only can you not be at the top end of the range, you can't be anywhere near performance enhancing."
Before he was due to fight in the main event at UFC on Versus 4, Marquardt failed his test in Pennsylvania. He was suspended by the Keystone State and then it came to light his TRT issues began in N.J. before UFC 128.
Marquardt didn't have a testosterone use exemption in either state and tested positive at least once. What was the penalty? He was fired by the UFC, with little hopes of a return, but he is once again free to fight in the U.S.. Once he passed a subsequent test in Pennsylvania he was cleared and will serve no suspension.
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Joe Warren's rapid ascent to world champion has been fun to watch. Now the question is whether he can retain his Bellator featherweight world title and eventually add UFC hardware to his mantle.
To beat the best in the world, he knows he's got to log cage time. Real cage time. Warren is angry that his latest fight went by the wayside. Warren was set to face Patricio "Pitbull" Freire at Bellator 47 next week in Canada. Freire suffered a hand injury and the fight was canceled. Now he has to wait until September for his next fight.
Warren joined ESPNRadio1100's "The MMA Insiders" to talk about his career and what could be a bright future. Now, how will he handle another two months before he has to peak?
"I train full-time man. Since I can remember, I've been in the wrestling room training," Warren said. "As young as I am in fighting, I need to be in there training hard like that. My whole concern is the layoff time between fights."
Warren would love to be fighting 5-6 times a year. He already holds Bellator's 145-pound title and will work towards adding the 135 title with a tournament starting in the fall.
"I'm new at it, so I need to be in there. I can't simulate a live fighting match like I can a live wrestling match. It doesn't go down the way you ever expect it to. I feel like the only way I'm learning is in the ring," said Warren.
Warren's sense of urgency is due to his age. He's going to be 35 later this fall. He spent his 20's and early 30's on the international wrestling scene. He's rolled up a 7-1 record since making his MMA debut in March of 2009.
Warren said he plans on making one more run at the Olympics in Greco-Roman wrestling. He'll compete in the U.S. Open in December, with an eye on the U.S. Olympic trials in February.
In the meantime, he'll continue training with guys like Scott Jorgensen and Kit Cope. He'll also mix in more time with Team Alpha Male and Urijah Faber. Warren is slated to face Alexis Vila at Bellator 51 in his opening fight of the bantamweight tournament.

LAS VEGAS - Matt Wiman was convinced he'd won the fight and so was much of the crowd in attendance at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, but that's not the way the judges saw it. Denis Siver did enough in the first and third rounds to take a unanimous decision, 29-28 on all three cards, in bout No. 3 on the UFC 132 pay-per-view.
When the decision was announced Wiman ripped his hand away from the referee, stormed out of the cage and actually left the building. Wiman (13-6, 7-4 UFC) eventually came back after walking around the parking lot.
"I did a lot of damage. Maybe he got the decision because he threw more punches, but they weren't effective. Effective striking and grappling is what they say and he didn't have that at all," said Wiman.
The numbers backed up the judges. FightMetric said Siver outlanded Wiman 128-34. In the third round, while Wiman was 2-of-5 on takedowns, Siver had a strike advantage of 47-6. Over the 15 minutes, Wiman was good 5-of-16 takedown attempts.
It had to be the second round that convinced Wiman he'd rolled to the victory. Wiman dominated Siver on the ground. He got him down with 3:50 left in the round and blasted away. A nasty left elbow busted open Siver's forehead and he bled like a stuck pig for the next few minutes. Siver never got back to his feet.
The first round was one the more tightly contested stanzas of the night. It went back and forth as Siver threw with vicious intent. He landed the better shots on the feet showed off some good takedown defense. Apparently, Wiman didn't press on the gas pedal enough in the final round. He scored a couple of takedowns, but didn't inflict the same damage he did in the second.
For Siver (19-7, 8-4 UFC) to escape with a win was huge. Because of a his slugging style, the Russian fighting out Germany, is a promotion and fan favorite.
"I'm glad to win this fight. It was a very hard fight. My striking was a little bit better. My takedown defense was a little bit better. Altogether, I was just a little bit better tonight. Again, it was a very tough fight," said Siver.
After starting off his career in the UFC at 1-3, Siver has ripped off wins in eight-of-nine. He's also won four straight.