Shane Carwin Twitter Feuds With Roy Nelson But Still No Statement on Steroids

We documented the twitter back and forth between Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin yesterday, in case you missed it:

Roy Nelson - "Just woke up and was reading the mma news websites and only one had real news ufc champ shane carwin steroids court case. I am surprised that athletes in mma do steroids ;( that explains body types."

Shane Carwin - "I love Roy Nelson trying to elevate his status by talking smacks. Hopefully he is doing so on a treadmil. Some have rolls he has a bakery."

Today Nelson raises the ante a tiny bit by retweeting a couple of fan tweets:

axemaster How can @shanecarwin even begin 2 talk shit bout @roynelsonmma while hes in the middle of a steriod scandal? Roy may eat but he don't cheat.

katchphraze   @roynelsonmma is bang on. Before carwin comments on roy nelson he should make a formal statement.

Meanwhile Carwin has the following exchange with a fan:

cornflake12z @ShaneCarwin are u atleast gonna give the fans a statement about the whole scandal situation?

ShaneCarwin @cornflake12z I am fighting that fight currently. Being told I cant I however feel like I should.    

Commentary from Watch Kalib Run, Cage Side Seats and Kid Nate in the full entry:

S.C. Michaelson comments:

Nelson's concerns are that of anyone else. Will the "real MMA media" start to dig in and look into these charges or will they remain silent? MMAWeekly still has only the original article written days ago stating the release of Carwin's name. MMAJunkie is the same. Both stories are deep on the front page. Yahoo's MMA coverage has nothing on the front page, yet it has a story about a fake wrestler dying (which is tragic, but doesn't even mention MMA or the UFC at all). Cage Potato, like the rest, also has the same original story (not appearing on the front page) about Carwin's alleged ties to the illegal steroid ring. ESPN's Jake Rossen has an article which does appear in the top 5 stories section. The same blog also appears on Sherdog.com's front page. This is the only story on any of the major MMA websites that even offers editorial commentary on the issue.

So why the hush? Is it because they don't want to jump on a story without having "all sides of the issue"? I could understand that, however, there are a few problems with that. The first is that it is clear that Carwin is not responding in a timely manner. When the A-Rod steroid connection broke out, a statement was released by Rodriguez's PR people within a 72 hour timeframe. The second is that even in the absence of an immediate response, the media in mainstream sports still editorialize and still comment on the possible implications of the event. ESPN had an "Outside the Lines" ready to go within a day for every major scandal that breaks out. Just look at the Tiger Woods story. The third, and most damning in my opinion, is that we already have most of the facts that we need.

Yes, Shane Carwin has not failed a drug test that we know of. However, according to the evidence that was procured during a federal investigation of an illegal steroid ring which ended in the indictment and prosecution of several men, we are told that Shane Carwin was the recipient of Trenbolone, Testosterone, injectable Stanozolol and Nandrolene, all steroids. The evidence states that he received them for an 8 month period in 2006 while he was actively an MMA fighter. Does this mean 100% that Shane Carwin used steroids? No, but if he did not then what did he do with them?

Matthew DiRienzio has a theory why the MMA media is so silent:

However, I believe the main reason MMA websites and blogs aren't covering this story is because no one really cares. Not the fans, not the press and probably not the UFC. We now live in an age where finding out an elite athlete is on steroids is like finding out that water is wet. There is no surprise or shock anymore when a story breaks that "[insert name] has tested positive for PEDS" or "[insert name] has been linked to a federal investigation looking into a doctor or pharmacist who illegally distributed steroids". People now only care now when you lie about taking them. Has anyone noticed that liars like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are still getting killed by the federal government and press alike but athletes that have come clean (to an extent) like Andy Pettite and Alex Rodriguez have generally been overlooked after the initial story broke?

In my opinion, most media members and fans believe that all athletes are on or have taken some form for performance enhancing drugs and we have all got to the point where we just don't care. We all love touchdowns, dunks, goals, dingers and knockouts and we don't care what athletes have to do or take to make them happen more frequently. It is no coincidence that Major League Baseball enjoyed a time of great prosperity in the late 90's and early 2000's when PED users like Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa where crushing balls out of the park at an alarming frequency. We were getting too much satisfaction to care that what we were witnessing may not have been accomplished without a little (illegal) help.

I have to agree. The unspoken assumption among many MMA insiders is that PED use is prevalent if not universal among professional mixed martial artists. There is controversy about the actual health risk of steroids and a recognition that the testing regimes currently used by even the best state athletic commissions is woefully inadequate. 

Nevertheless, Carwin is evolving from a babyface to a heel and he's accelerating that process dramatically by taking cheapshots at Roy Nelson while dodging the steroids issue.