MMA Usa

There's a lot to like about Ronda Rousey. She's America's best hope for an Olympic medal in judo this summer, she's a passionate advocate for her sport, and she has a blog that shows she's smart and funny.

Unfortunately, beyond those two weeks in August in Beijing, she's not going to have many opportunities to be in the public eye, or to make a living as a professional athlete. So that's why it makes sense that, as Beau Dure of USA Today reports, she's considering turning her attention to mixed martial arts:

"I have quite a few people who have been trying to get me to do MMA," Rousey says. "A coach has been talking to me about teaching me striking (punches, kicks) after the Olympics....

"My mom's generally not a big fan of the idea, so we'll see if I can convince her,"

I hope Rousey's mom OKs the idea, because while there are more opportunities than ever before for women to compete as amateurs in sports like boxing, wrestling and judo, there aren't many opportunities in those sports for those women to become professionals. MMA is Rousey's best chance to make a living doing what she loves.

Via Savage Science.

Above you see American taekwondo gold medalist Steven Lopez on the medal stand with his arms around silver medalist Joon Sik Sin of Korea and bronze medalist Hadi Saeibonehkohal of Iran after the three received their medals at the 2000 Games.

That's a nice moment shared among three athletes, but it's a moment that I guess a lot of people think never should have happened. After all, in the latest round of hand-wringing about mixed martial arts, we've heard over and over again that MMA is savagery. And if MMA is savagery, the fighting disciplines that are part of MMA must be savagery, too, right? So really, taekwondo shouldn't be an Olympic sport.

Olympic athletes often don't get paid to do anything other than look good. In that vein, Attractive Olympians handicaps which athletes may rake in endorsement deals after the Olympics.

Demetrius Andrade isn't old enough to buy beer, but he's the reigning world AIBA champion at 152 pounds. Along with flyweight roommate Rau'shee Warren, the 20-year-old from Connecticut became the USA's first world champion since 1999 when he dominated Thailand's Non Boonjumnong in a fight that was stopped before the second round ended.

Andrade is young but well established in the amateur ranks of the sport. The son of a boxer, he's been training in the ring since age six. He repeated as gold medalist at the U.S. Amateur Boxing Championship in '05-'06 and was a Golden Glove winner in '06 and '07. Before his gold in Chicago, he lost a narrowly contested and controversial championship bout at the Pan Am Games in 2007, where he settled for silver.

He may be a favorite for gold in Beijing, but does Andrade have the right features for underwear ads and adoring fluff pieces in People? After the jump, examine the visual evidence and vote in our tastefully superficial poll.

This is Darren Chiacchia competing in equestrian at the Athens Olympics. He won a bronze medal there and was a favorite at the Beijing Games as well.

But he won't be going to Beijing. Last month he was training a stallion that fell on top of him as it jumped a fence, leaving him in a coma for a week and nearly killing him. He's now in a rehabilitation facility in Buffalo, and he's much better off than many equestrian riders whose horses stumble on jumps: Katie Thomas of the New York Times reports that 12 equestrian riders have died in the last year and a half during falls in practice or competition.

Equestrian may very well be the world's most dangerous sport, and although there are various calls for the sport's governing bodies to make it safer, it's surprising that there aren't more people speaking out for the International Olympic Committee simply eliminating it.

And, of course, I have to ask: Can you imagine the way the media and the politicians who think it's their job to protect us from ourselves would react if 12 mixed martial arts fighters had died in the last year and a half? There are risks associated with every sport, but when the media shine a light on those risks, they ought to put them in some perspective. Thomas's reporting makes clear that if you want to go after dangerous sports, equestrian should be your top target.

Boxing is a dying sport. That's a familiar refrain to anyone who follows the sport in this country. The conventional wisdom is that boxing is on its last legs. Pundits cite numerous reasons from convoluted sanctioning bodies to mixed martial arts to pay-per-view broadcasts that make it too hard for the casual fan to follow the sport. All have some truth but with the Olympics coming this summer, we're being reminded of a reason that may trump all the rest. Amateur boxing is in a bad way in this country.

Only five members of the U.S. Olympic boxing team have qualified to put on the headgear in Beijing at this point. The other six will need to qualify, either at the current Americas Olympic qualifier in Trinidad or in April's event in Guatemala, by finishing in at least the top three, although some of them need to reach the finals or win. Unlike previous qualifiers, the Cuban team is competing in Trinidad which should make matters more difficult.

During the Oleg Maskaev-Sam Peter and Wladimir Klitschko-Sergei Igbramov heavyweight title bouts, much was made of their extensive amateur backgrounds. None of the fighters grew up in the U.S., something that's the case among champions in many weight classes as is the deep amateur experience. The training begets better boxers which begets championships. The U.S. Olympic struggles underscore the problem developing fighters here and the lack of a home team is a big reason for boxing's diminishing returns in this country.

Twin brothers Javier and Oscar Molina were born in Southern California to Mexican parents 18 years ago, and they both took up boxing at an early age and became great fighters. Here's a look at Oscar from last year's Police Athletic League boxing championships:

Javier won the 141-pound class at the U.S. Olympic trials last year, and assuming he fights as well as he's expected to in this week's qualifying tournament in Trinidad, he'll box under the American flag in Beijing.

Oscar lost in the 152-pound class last year, but that didn't end his Olympic dream: Because Olympic rules allow athletes to represent their parents' home countries, Oscar then went to Mexico, where he won the qualifying tournament. He's expected to qualify for the Beijing Games at the qualifying tournament in Trinidad as well.

That will make the Molinas the first pair of twins ever to compete for different countries in the same Olympics. Thanks to the 11-pound weight difference, there's no concern that they'll have to fight each other, which they've both said they won't do. But they could bring medals back to the same home -- even if they're doing it for two different homelands.

[Machochip.com]

The U.S. Boxing team may have to head to Beijing without one of its best hopes at a medal. Sadam Ali tested positive for cathine, banned by the IOC, while in China for a recent bout and is awaiting the results of his backup sample. The test was conducted in December and Ali was placed on "voluntary" suspension pending the second test.

Several boxers suffered from flu-like symptoms during the trip to China and were given over-the-counter medication by team doctors, only Ali tested positive. Cathine is extracted from khat, a plant native to East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

Khat is a major part of Yemeni life. 60% of the men there are believed to chew it for its narcotic effects. Ali is from Brooklyn, but his parents are Yemeni. Khat leaves must be fresh to have the stimulating effect, however, and there's other ways that cathine can be produced. Small amounts can be found when the human body metabolizes pseudophedrine, which is used in most decongestants. Ali, of course, used such decongestants while in China. The lightweight has retained a lawyer to represent him if an appeal of the drug test is necessary.

Interestingly, Ali is not the only boxing related client of Salvatore Strazzullo. He is also representing Milana Dravnel, the stripper who was responsible for leaking photos of Oscar De La Hoya in lingerie and is now suing the boxer for defamation.