By Zach Arnold

Last week was hell week for World Wrestling Entertainment, featuring numerous wrestlers named in news reports from The New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated, and ESPN as online clients of Signature Pharmacy in Orlando.  The Pharmacy was investigated as part of a criminal investigation by Albany D.A. David Soares in regards to illegal sales of steroids and HGH (performance-enhancing drugs). 

It was indicated in various news outlets that athletes from other professional sports such as MLB and the NFL would be potentially implicated in the Signature Pharmacy scandal.  This past week, the NFL saw two employees (Patriots S Rodney Harrison and Dallas Cowboy's QB coach Wade Wilson) suspended after they admitted to investigators that they purchased growth hormone from Signature. 

With athletes such as professional wrestlers and football players already publicly stained by the Signature Pharmacy scandal, the question remains: Who will be next and it will involve athletes in your favorite sport?

For boxing and MMA fans, the investigation into Signature Pharmacy could prove to be an interesting case to watch. Sports Illustrated claimed that Evander Holyfield allegedly received steroids and HGH using an alias ("Evan Fields") from another pharmacy investigated by the DEA, Applied Pharmacy.  With a spate of recent drug suspensions in both boxing and MMA from various athletic commissions, it is not out of the question to publicly ask whether or not some boxers and MMA fighters happen to be on the clients list of Signature Pharmacy.  Investigators in the Signature case have went to the head honchos of companies (WWE and NFL) to notify them of suspicious activity. 

However, boxing and MMA have promoters and individual companies where fighters compete on different cards all the time.  In other words, outside of a couple of companies like UFC, we don't have true leagues for investigators to call up and notify promoters of suspicious activity.

This raises some interesting questions and dilemmas.

Are there boxers and MMA fighters on the Signature clients list?

This is obviously the most important question to ask right now.

Are there boxers and MMA fighters on that client list that investigators don't realize they have?

You would suspect that if a low-level MMA fighter or boxer is on the list, investigators may not know who that person is unless they do some research and data-checking with Fightfax or athletic commissions.

What happens if there are boxers and MMA fighters who are on the Signature client list?

This is a very important question to ask.  Let's say that a big-name boxer was ordering growth hormone from Signature.  Who do you go tell this information to?  Do you go to an athletic commission and say, "We have evidence that this fighter took a certain illegal substance?"  What kind of punishment (if any) could athletic commissions issue to fighters who didn't fail a commission-issued drug test but ordered illegal substances from Signature?

What happens if Federal investigators approach individual promoters and tell them that a fighter they have as an employee is purchasing illegal drugs from Signature?

Let's say that investigators have a list of a couple of fighters who work for an MMA organization and they approach the MMA promoter and say, "Hey, look, we got the goods on a couple of your guys.  Here's the information," what is the promoter going to do?  Is the promoter going to stay quiet about the information and not punish the fighter(s) or is the promoter going to turn over the information to a state athletic commission?

Put yourself in the shoes of a top-level MMA promoter.  You have a big show coming up in a month and a Federal investigator approaches you and says, "We know that one of your main eventers was a client of Signature and here's the information," what do you do?  Do you stay silent and continue with business as status quo or do you cancel that fighter's booking and suspend him?  It's very tempting for a promoter not to say anything and to ignore the problem conveniently.

Have Federal investigators related to the Signature case contacted any major promoters or promotions?

No one has publicly said anything on this matter.  We don't know if UFC, IFL, Pro-Elite, Don King, Bob Arum, or anyone else in the fight game has been contacted by investigators.  SI's report on Holyfield and contact with him was done on their own accord.

Are athletic commissioners talking or communicating with Federal investigators in the Signature case?

We don't know whether or not they are.  However, if I was Keith Kizer or Armando Garcia, you bet I would be on the phone talking with David Soares and the Federal investigators to find out if any athletes that compete in their respective states are caught up in an illegal drug scandal.

If there several big-name MMA fighters or boxers on the Signature client list, what kind of impact could it have on the way athlete commissions drug test competitors?

Ultimately, this is the biggest question to focus on.  If there is proof that there are boxers or MMA fighters who bought growth hormone from an online pharmacy like Signature, what can an athletic commission do to stop this from happening?  Urine tests don't detect HGH abuse.  They detect steroids, marijuana, and elevated T/E (testosterone) ratios.  However, blood tests are more accurate in detecting drugs in a fighter's system.  They're also more expensive and not used by most athletic commissions. 

If it turns out that there are some important names on the Signature Pharmacy client list from the world of boxing and MMA, then it's time for the major athletic commission bosses and promoters to step up to the plate and come up with a solution to solve this problem to the best of their abilities.  MMA and boxing writers need to ask the tough questions regarding performance-enhancing drugs and the Signature Pharmacy investigation is something that we should be watching closely.