The B-movie horror flick that was Bellator 149 somehow just got a little scarier and a little more embarrassing.
Main event fighter Ken Shamrock and co-main event fighter Kimbo Slice both failed drug tests for anabolic steroids. Shamrock also tested positive for the opioid methadone in advance of the Feb. 19 event. That's according to a report Monday from Marc Raimondi of MMA Fighting, who obtained the test results through the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
News of the test failures broke earlier in March, but Monday's report revealed the banned substances involved.
Kimbo Slice tested positive for nandrolone and T/E ration was 6.4 (legal limit is 4.0) per lab reports released by state of Texas
— Jason Floyd (@Jason_Floyd) March 21, 2016
It's not what you'd call a good look for anyone involved, including Bellator officials, who declined to comment. Bellator 149 was the latest in a series of Bellator cards unabashedly topped by novelty or "freak show" fights featuring high-profile but aged and/or less-than-elite competitors.
At face value, it's a cagey and understandable strategy. There's no question Bellator is the top competitor to the Goliath that is the UFC and has plenty of talented fighters in its stable. Those talented fighters, however, carry just a fraction of the name recognition of the UFC's top stars and as such, Bellator is using a sideshow approach to attract eyeballs to its tentpole events—to good effect, by the way.
Sometimes, this approach can even be fun. But in retrospect, Bellator 149 took a step or 12 over the line.
In the evening's main event, Shamrock, 52, lost his third fight to UFC 1 tournament champion Royce Gracie, 49. Gracie knocked Shamrock out in just over two minutes. Before Bellator 149, the two last fought each other in 1995.
That brings us to the co-main event of the evening, wherein Slice, 42, took on Dhafir Harris, 38, the artist known to most as Dada 5000. Like Slice (real name Kevin Ferguson), Dada gained a measure of fame as a kingpin of Miami's underground street-fighting scene, some installments of which made their way to YouTube and viral success.
In a fight that drew widespread Internet laughter and widespread criticism as one of the worst in MMA history, Dada collapsed to the mat in the third round. The bout was called a TKO for Slice.
A visibly exhausted Dada was unable to get up under his own power and was subsequently taken to a local hospital. Team Dada released a statement saying he had experienced "renal failure," likely from huge "weight loss" in advance of the fight, and was "recovering nicely."
Then one day turned into one week. It was reported the day after the fight that Dada's heart had stopped and he nearly died.
None of this was funny anymore.
Dada left the hospital on March 3 and thankfully appears to be on the road to recovery. But not long after came the news of the drug test failures, then the substances involved. This wasn't marijuana or a banned diuretic. These were hardcore steroids and an opioid whose most famous application is as an aid for withdrawal from stronger opioids like heroin. (Methadone is also used as a pain reliever, and there is no indication of why Shamrock may have had the substance in his system.)
Exact punishments for Slice and Shamrock are pending, but the maximum penalties in Texas for drug test failures are a 90-day suspension and $5,000 fine. Neither of those are what you'd call a punitive book-throwing, especially given the substances involved.
For now, this news is just another black mark on a card so marked up it has lost all recognition.
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