Enough already with the excuses

Probably the greatest single thing about this country may be freedom, freedom to choose instead of having someone make decisions for you. It is a powerful thing, but with freedom comes much responsibility.

Along those lines, the premise that a person is innocent until proven guilty is something that was established long ago; it has been the cornerstone of our judicial system. I'm not saying the system is infallible, but more often than not, it works. At the very least, it is fair.

On a rare weekend where the UFC did not have a live event scheduled and boxing was relatively light, the Strikeforce organization had center stage all too themselves. With a nice card that featured a championship bout and another fight that featured a former champion, all eyes should have been on Strikeforce this weekend; and they were, but for all the wrong reasons.

The news on Friday that Strikeforce Women's featherweight (145 lbs.) champion Cristiane 'Cyborg' Santos (pictured above) had been suspended due to a failed drug test superseded any outcomes of battles within the cage. You see, even though she's a woman in a sport dominated by men, Santos is a rare commodity.

She's not only the most dominant female fighter in the world, she is arguably Strikeforce's number one attraction; specifically because of her dominance. Unfortunately though, she's also just the latest fighter in the world of mixed martial arts to be found guilty of using performance enhancing drugs.

Santos failed her post fight test taken after her successful defense of her title on December 17, 2011 against Japanese fighter Hiroko Yamanaka. She has been suspended by the California State Athletic Commission for one year and fined $2,500. She has since issued an apology for her failed test, which was for stanozolol metabolites.

Yet, while she took responsibility for her actions, she claimed innocence by reason of negligence; she claims she didn't know a dietary supplement she used to help cut weight during training contained a banned substance. Herein lays my issue with her apology.

I do not have any fame and fortune, yet I know what I am ingesting into my system on a daily basis. Thus, I would assume a professional athlete, who makes their living with their bodies earning thousands, if not millions of dollars, would take a little bit more responsibility in their judgment.

Every time a professional athlete, including MMA fighters, gets caught taking a banned substance they immediately turn to the defense, "I didn't know." Chael Sonnen, Sean Sherk, Royce Gracie etc., all said the same thing. Enough already with the excuses; it's time for athletes to step up and accept full, not partial responsibility for their actions. From that standpoint, I have to give former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia a lot of credit.

Never the most talented fighter in the world and definitely not the most athletically gifted, when he got busted for performance enhancing drugs, he quickly and openly admitted he made a mistake because he knew what he was taking and did it for one reason; he wanted to try and improve his physique to look more like a fighter and a champion. If you're not going to take full responsibility and own up to everything 100 percent for yourself, then at the very least do it for those that idolize and worship you.