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Steven Lopez, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in taekwondo, has been temporarily suspended following sexual misconduct allegations, according to Nancy Armour and Rachel Axon of USA Today.
The U.S. Center for SafeSport and USA Taekwondo are enforcing the suspension pending the result of an investigation.
Jacey Fortin of the New York Times reported a lawsuit was filed in federal court Friday against Lopez and his brother and coach, Jean Lopez, for sexual assault against multiple female athletes.
Jean Lopez was banned from the sport last month for sexual misconduct with a minor.
The lawsuit alleges "sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking" against both brothers over a course of two decades. Four women were named in the suit as plaintiffs, along with "dozens of Jane Does."
One of the unnamed women says she was sexually abused by Jean Lopez at age 15 and raped five years later by Steven Lopez.
The United States Olympic Committee was also challenged for allowing the misconduct despite "a pattern of predatory behavior."
Steven Lopez is one of the most decorated athletes in the history of the sport, earning two gold medals and a silver in his career. He is a five-time Olympian, competing every year taekwondo has been available at the Summer Olympics. The 39-year-old has also planned to compete in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
He denied the allegations against him when first questioned last June.
Here it is, everyone—the first martial arts demonstration to ever make grown men laugh and children run away in tears.
A Scottish taekwondo instructor recently attempted to put on a clinic for a group of young martial arts enthusiasts. The demonstration quickly devolved into a scene of futility, however, and the results were busted knuckles, tears and an increasingly awkward video of a man being defeated by a piece of wood.
The video begins with the instructor attempting—and failing—to punch through a wooden board. No big deal. Wooden boards, by nature, aren’t particularly easy to destroy with your bare hands. Even the pros mess up, and the crowd is willing to grant the man a mulligan.
Problems begin soon after, however, as the sensei fails with his second and third punches. His fist sounds like a Beanie Baby hitting drywall, and the blows are doing more damage to his ego than to the board's surface.
Children watch as the struggle continues, and things take a dive into the Sea of Sadness after the instructor attempts a forward high kick. The blow barely touches the board, and his Keds paw feebly against the wood on the near miss.
Something is wrong here, and the instructor decides the problem is obvious—his power is uncontainable, and he needs more people to hold the board.
Two men grab the board, another kick is delivered and—huzzah!—a chip of wood splinters and goes flying directly into a young girl’s face. At this point even the local livestock were probably staring in disbelief.
Image via 4GIFs.com
The girl begins crying and walks off camera followed by her instructor. Surely, at this point, the instructor will end the demonstration and walk away, right?
Wrong.
The instructor continues, failing on several more kicks and hitting one of his volunteer’s hands in the process.
Sometimes it’s best to quit when you’re behind.
Join me on Twitter, where this man certainly states his case and gets a Web Redemption.
(Cain Velasquez's new Lugz commercial. Yeah, he smashed that. Props: YouTube.com/MMAFightClub)
Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail feedback@cagepotato.com for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club...
- Punch Drunk Preview: WEC 50 (Heavy.com/MMA)
- Cro Cop Says He's Not Ready for UFC 119 but Still Guarantees a First Round Knockout (MiddleEasy)
- Backstage: Ariel Helwani vs. Ed Soares (MMA Fighting)
- Total Fighter Payroll for Strikeforce Challengers Phoenix: $53,250 (MMA Convert)
- 10 Taekwondo Knockouts That Will Blow Your Mind (MMA Scraps)
- Shane Carwin still silent on steroid connection; media as well (Watch Kalib Run)
- Pettis: ‘Roller Doesn’t Want Any Part of My Stand-up’ at WEC 50 (Versus MMA Beat)
- Chael Sonnen Syndrome: Urijah Faber trash-talking his way to the WEC Bantamweight Title shot? (LowKick)
- Rafael Cavalcante: “I have been working hard for not just this fight, but for my dream, every day for six years.” (Five Ounces of Pain)
- Strikeforce Houston: Noons & Gurgel on Standing and Banging for a Title Shot (FIGHT! Magazine)
Ultimate Fighting was the beginning, now this damn fight club's moving away from its underground underpinnings, and it's called mixed martial arts.
Mixed Martial Arts— a sport that combines grappling and striking techniques—is gaining big-time mainstream popularity across America and around the world.
Ultimate Fighting relates to an MMA organization known as the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Mixed Martial Arts refers to a fighting style that incorporates wrestling, Muay Thai boxing, Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, and other fighting techniques used in professionally sanctioned fights.
An "ultimate fighter" is an award given to the winner of a UFC-based reality T.V. show on Spike TV, known ironically—or not—as The Ultimate Fighter.
We know the newspaper medium is outdated and dying, but the New York Times is supposed to be to the best of the best. All the news that's fit to print.
This is not the first, and it won't be the last time, NY Times' columnists have spoken unintelligibly about the sport of mixed martial arts—all the sport that's safe to sell.
NY Times columnist, Virginia Heffernan's recent piece spoke about her husband's new interest in what she calls "ultimate fighting," and her shame to tell all her desperate housewife friends about her husband's new obsession with such a bloody-bloody sport.
To her credit, she enjoys the sweet science of boxing, which she believes is what matters most when judging man's highest achievement in hand-to-hand combat sports. But boxing too has been around as long as newspapers.
Maybe as a sports writer, she grew up as a fan watching the sport, and now can't accept mixed martial arts replacing her beloved boxing as a generation's new fight.
As newspaper must compete with the Internet, boxing must compete with mixed martial arts. Both must evolve to survive.
Still her misconception that all mixed martial arts happens in the "Ultimate Fighting" Championship further perpetuates the ill-convinced notion that "ultimate fighting" (actually MMA) is more dangerous than boxing ever dreamt.
Is this why mixed martial arts, not boxing, remains banned in states across America?
In boxing, repeatedly hitting someone when they're down and rendering them helpless on his back, is not allowed. When a fighter outlasts a standing 10-count and recovers, his opponent rewards him with even more repetitive blows to their respective domes.
Whereas, such rules literally define the bloody sport of boxing, not even all mixed martial arts fights involve fighters merely throwing punches—there's ground-and-pound assaults, submission attempts, and leg kicks.
In mixed martial arts, most refs recognizes when a fight needs stopping immediately. Other times, accomplished refs like Yves Lavigne at UFC 95 in February, no-calls resume fights and allow a fighter, Mike Brown, to beat and bloody the defenseless, Pete Sell
Is that why?
Mixed martial arts is as legit a sport as American football. The Ultimate Fighting Championship is an organization, much like the National Basketball Association.
When you order an MMA pay-per-view, you may—or may not—be ordering a UFC PPV, but the chances are increased. The UFC may be the most known brand, but Strikeforce, Affliction, M1-Global, and even Zuffa-owed WEC are ALL mixed martial organizations.
We know all the letters and numbers confuse some people so we won't fault her for those shortcomings. We know it's hard to know the difference among all them so we don't blame people for viewing MMA from the perspective of Heffernan.
The sport's evolution has come a long way in a short time, and still has not reached the level of popularity as Major League Baseball or the National Football League.
Sooner or later, with the help of the UFC, mixed martial arts will increase in popularity to a mainstay in the American sports lexicon.
Heffernan distastefully reminds us her column that her middle-aged housewife friends refer to mixed martial arts as "the thing where they actually kill each other."
Please, let us meet the person who this quote should be attributed too, we've love to interview them on the record, of course.
Seriously, that has to be the most idiotic and asinine statement we've ever read.
She further insults her readers intelligence by constantly reminding them of this most obvious of facts.
Yes, Virgie, we know the fighters from your hubby's new "ultimate fighting" viewing hobby, do not actually kill each other.
Please do not push your passion for the christ-like sacrifice you feel these fighters do not portray, and your readers do not appreciate.
As if those reading the New York Times aren't educated enough to realize a sport, as popular as MMA, in an organization, as popular as the UFC, allows fighters to sacrifice more then the health of their bodies, is fruitless.
They may beating-the-living crap out of their opponents each time they step inside a fighting ring, but who doesn't? Winning isn't everything, and the money isn't great.
Professional fighters' true sacrifice is the time they miss spending with their family and friends because they're off training trying to provide for their family's future.
As if anyone anywhere reading anything about anything would ever believe that we, as human-beings, would allow such a sport where one person goes to war against another person with the winner decided by bloodshed and death, to continue being broadcast on late-night public access stations, weekly prime-time cable television shows, and bimonthly UFC pay-per-views is the most ridiculous assumption for a journalist of Virginia Heffernan's ilk to make of her highly educated readership.
Mixed martial arts is not a blood sport.
And to suggest "ultimate fighting" fans, and those who train mixed martial arts are as dumb as she assumes her readers, we not surprised the story only has seven comments or the paper's profit margins dwindle.
Save the bullshit for a book.
She sure as hell isn't talking to MMA's prime demographic of males ages 18-45, who may—or may not— read the New York Times.
Regardless, they sure as hell do not need to read the NY Times to know mixed martial arts fighters do not actually die inside the ring.
No one does.
No one reads the New York Times for those common-sense columns anyways.
Actually, we're unaware of any fighters dying while competing inside the ring. We know some fighters injure themselves during fights and training. We're sure it's possible for fighters to die during training, but again we've never heard of anyone. Maybe someone can correct us in the comments.
Heffernan further talks about the "steroidal lexicon" of mixed martial arts, which sounds like it would be more apropos for an expose on the pro baseball steroids era. And how the name "UFC" stems from the "corny pageantry of professional wrestling," whatever the hell that means. She's seems to have coined the term "ultimate fighter." Wonder where she thinks that name came from or does she believe we what believe?
Terms like tapping out, rear-naked chokes, and full-guard must be "steroidal lexicon" she references, and not the recent suspensions of Ken Shamrock and Baby Fedor. And the sport entertainment-ness of UFC fighters becoming larger-than-life athletes and recognizable wherever and whenever they walk down the street, must be what she means by "corney pageantry of professional wrestling."
In that case, she's even more uninformed than we realized about understanding the mixed martial arts culture and the business of the UFC.
Until people with knowledge of the sport become the ones scheduling and watching the fights; and those with no knowledge stop publishing misinformation about mixed martial arts, MMA will never recognized by media outlets, like the NY Times, as a sports heavyweight; thus the muckrakers submit the casual sports fan to complacency.
It's the same story Cro-Cop told us, and it's the only one potential fans like Heffernan know. An all-bais no-knowledge bullshit approach to sports writing, and they sure as hell are not helping elevate the sports acceptance.
Through the deceptive media, the perception that mixed martial arts is an arcane relic still exists.
Like Heffermann's Blood Sport column, it's the only viewpoint she and others like her know how to defend. They refuse to accept mixed martial arts as a sport that sounds non-violent and safe because then others more ill-informed on the sport, soon realize mixed martial arts is not at all the dangerous and death-defying "ultimate fighting" their housewife friends told them.
Mixed martial arts, like pee-wee wrestling, Taekwondo, and Yoga, is a healthy way to express oneself through exercise. Of course, she doesn't present her mixed martial arts story in this manner because her story loses its edgy-ness and falls to back pages of the sports section.
Okay, well... we hope Heffernan enjoys her free UFC 95 fight tickets, but we're pretty sure she's never actually seen an MMA fight live in-person or ordered a pay-per-view in her life.
She also tells us how the Octagon is nothing more than a cage housing human cock-fighters, but even John McCain doesn't buy that chicken-coop crap anymore.
Cancel our cheap NY Times' Weekender Magazine subscription. We're not buying Heffernans' argument anymore.
You can read her entire piece here.
Are you ready for real deal MMA? Are you ready for more turkey? Well, get ready for the World’s largest Mixed Martial Arts event at the Yokohama Arena in Tokyo, Japan. FiELDS K-1 WGP 2008 Final, featuring none other than “Turkey of the Year” - Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson. HDNet will premier K-1’s encore presentation in the US on December 6, 2008.
Kimbo Slice
Discouraged yet? Put your worries aside, Ferguson will not be on the fight card for this event. However, he will be a guest commentator, invited by FEG and HDNet for K-1’s US debut. I for one would not trust Kimbo Slice as a commentator, especially at the world’s largest MMA event. Alternatively, it should be fun to hear Ferguson’s interpretation.
Here are the fighters on the card for this premier –
- TAKERU vs. Taisei Ko
- Mitsugu Noda vs. Tsutomu Takahagi
- Peter Aerts vs. Badr Hari
- Errol Zimmerman vs. Ewerton Teixeira
- Gokhan Saki vs. Ruslan Karaev
- Remy Bonjasky vs. Jerome Le Banner
- Hong Man Choi vs. Ray Sefo
- Paul Slowinski vs Melvin Manhoef
… and three other yet undecided bouts.
As much as I am excited to hear Kimbo Slice commentate this event, I must say I’m way more ecstatic that K-1 is debuting “The World’s Largest” MMA event. K-1 and their sister company – DREAM, is known for premiering large scale events usually in Japan and around the world. Now, HDNet is bringing this event to the US in hopes to develop a big impact for future K-1 MMA interest.
“K-1 is a combat sport that combines stand up techniques from Muay Thai, Karate, Taekwondo, Savate, San shou, Kickboxing, traditional Boxing, and other martial arts to determine the single best stand-up fighter in the world (the “1″).”
Check out K-1’s website for more information.
HDNet’s coverage starts December 6 at 12:00 AM / PT with an encore presentation later that evening. Encore presentation starts at 9:00 PM / ET/ 6:00 PM / PT.
Source – (Market Watch)
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MMA is said to be a sport where anything can happen; well, for the past three years it has basically been the same thing. A takedown here, a submission there, and a straight punch that sends an opponent on the floor.
I have said this before, but it's true. MMA has not branched out to the hundreds of other styles that are out there.
Now everyone is gonna be like "they are proven in effective, etc., etc., etc." Have you ever seen a master in an martial art style that has been doing it since they were a child? They are amazing; they do things that just seem inhuman and they seem so confident in what they do will bring an attacker down. They know when and were to pull off the moves that they have drilled all their life in real combat because of years of training and learning.
Watch an episode of Human Weapons and check out some of the old masters of Karate and Taekwondo. I would never pick a fight with any of them; they would destroy anyone, no matter how physically fit.
What about Iron skills that every intense Kung Fu master has trained in? Is MMA filled with a bunch of pansies that they cant handle jamming their fingers into rocks, or letting their instructors hit them with bats? Think about a fighter who has mastered Iron hand skills, his fists would be just as big as Brock Lesnar's and twice as hard!
Research about Shaolin monks, and not the BS stuff on wikipedia. Most of them have been training since they were 5, and by the time they are 20 they have mastered at least a couple forms of iron skills, and have also been fighting several other kung fu masters in honor bouts. Those men are in some of the best physical and mental shape ever, they are in a state that no MMA fighter has ever achieved.
I would seriously bet on a Shaolin monk in a fight against a MMA fighter any day. Who is better, the MMA fighter with maybe 10 years of practice, or a monk who has practice 17 years of fighting and mind control?
That is another thing that sets apart great martial artists like Bruce Lee and a lot of the older masters from MMA fighters, they don't just physically know what to do, but their mind knows what to do and why to do it. They are in a state of complete and total calm and understanding. Have you seen an MMA fighter who just seemed like he doesn't care about a fight?
There are so many different philosophies out there about fighting and whats effective. Many people believe just because it's not simple means it's ineffective. There are moves in such techniques like Mizongyi, Long Fist, or Bak Fu Pai that just sound devastating, yet it takes such concentration and understanding to pull off that it is branded instantly useless. Well, what if someone did master those moves and used a Mizongyi Fajian punch and sent his opponent six feet across the mat?
How about instead of learning to get out of submissions, how about learning to not get into submissions? Several martial arts teach about not letting your energy get the best of you and to always control everything you do so that way you never let your energy put you into a bad position, aka get into a submission.
I'm not saying that everything can work, but I am saying there is so many other things that can be put into MMA. There is something else out there besides Muay Thai, wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu that can be even more devastating, yet no one has put the time in to find out.
Wouldn't it be cool to see two fighters going at it and then one of them suddenly swing their arms in some classic long fist moves and just bash the opponent in the temple with a hard back fist? Or to have a fighter do a boxing head bob under a punch and do a snake fist to the liver and end a fight that way?
Fighters need to take that chance and spend the time training in something new. Bruce Lee spent years looking at several martial arts and several training methods and look what he became, basically a god among fighters.
I just recently got a book that is basically a giant encyclopedia of martial arts. It has opened my eyes to how much MMA doesn't have, and what could be really useful in a match if only someone would come along and master it.
You know if one person mastered a new style and came in and started dominating in the ring, everyone would start to do the same. Look at BJJ, no one knew about that, then Royce dominated the fights and then suddenly its mandatory to have some form of BJJ training in order to survive a MMA bout.
Fidel Castro has defended Angel Matos, the Cuban Taekwondo athlete who kicked a referee in the head at the Beijing Olympics. Castro feels that Matos was right to be indignant over his disqualification during the bronze medal match.
Olympic officials want Matos and his coach banned from the sport for life for his controversial actions after he was eliminated from the tournament. But Castro has declared his "total solidarity" for his fellow countrymen.
Matos was actually winning 3-2 in the second round when he fell to the mat after being caught with a blow from his Kazakhstan opponent. He was then disqualified when he took more than the one minute he was allocated to recover from an injury.
Matos questioned the call immediately, angrily pushing the judge before turning his attentions to the referee who disqualified him. The referee, Chakir Chelbat from Sweden needed medical attention after the altercation, requiring stitches in a split lip. Matos walked off spitting on the ring in disgust.
His behavior has been described as disgraceful by officials, and Matos' counter claims that the match was fixed have fallen on deaf ears. Matos coach then waded in defending his protege, adding that the Kazakh's also tried to bribe them. These claims have also been unfounded.
Fidel feels that the bribery attempt gave his athletes good reason to expect biased judging. Castro added that Cuban boxers were also cheated in their semi-final bouts during the Olympics.
Castro then said: "Our fighters had hopes of winning, despite the judges. But it was useless, they were condemned beforehand."
Judging in many of the contact sports during the Olympics, especially boxing, has been called into question in many corners.
Two Irish boxers complained bitterly of their treatment at the hands of the judges when facing Chinese boxers. Light heavyweight Ken Egan who won the silver, was beaten 11-7 in the final by a Chinese boxer. Egan only conceded five points through four bouts on the way to the final.
Fellow Irishman Paddy Barnes was beaten an incredible 15-0, and while Irish officials did not feel he won the fight they felt the young boxer should have lost by a score of 12-6. And the fact he went four rounds without landing a punch show that something was wrong with the judging system.
So maybe Castro has a point. China and Kazakhstan recently announced a massive oil deal...but fixing doesn't happen in sports...does it?
'Tis the Olympics of controversy, falalalala-lalalala. Has anyone noticed that this is the year of controversy and upsets? The latest controversy in the Olympics involves the USA (no surprise), judges (no surprise again), and taekwondo (surprise).
Steven Lopez, America's two-time defending Olympic champion, came to the Beijing Olympics in hopes of defending his gold medal. Instead, he got a bronze medal and a questionable call from the judges.
Lopez had a 2-1 lead against Mauro Sarmiento from Italy in the quarterfinals. However, he was docked a point from the judges because he had supposedly kicked his opponent's blow below the waist. By using the "cut kick," the judges docked him a point and the match ended up going into sudden death. Lopez soon lost the match and played for bronze against Rashad Ahmadov from Azerbeijan
