Carwin remains silent on steroid link

Last week, Shane Carwin’s name was identified in a steroid distribution case in Alabama. As of this date, Carwin has not made a statement regarding this issue with the exception of a cryptic message put out on his twitter account. In response to whether or not he would put out a statement about his purchase of steroids, Carwin from his twitter account, wrote:

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

From this tweet, it sounds as though Carwin has been instructed (by his management team, lawyers, the UFC or all three), not to speak out about the case. This may be due to a pending investigation or fear of implicating himself further.

In the meantime, Carwin is passing the time by entering into a twitter war with UFC Heavyweight Roy Nelson. The TUF winner has been critical of Carwin and has posted several messages on his own twitter account.

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.

In another tweet, Nelson pleads that the MMA media investigate the Carwin story. Bloody Elbow believes that the use of steroids is a non-story:

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. 

It also criticizes Carwin’s attack on Nelson as a shift from his good-guy image:

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.

Payout Perspective:

Where would we be without twitter? We would not be able to see this all play out. The strain of the steroid story is causing Carwin to lash out. Roy Nelson has made himself an easy target.

Instead of coming out to the media about this story, Carwin has been advised to lay low and not speak about it. Of course, it does not stop others, like Nelson, to bait Carwin into a twitter fight. For Nelson, baiting Carwin is excellent strategy to promote a future fight down the road (perhaps we call this the “Sonnen Strategy”).  It is fair for Carwin to put out a message to his fans acknowledging the story. But responding to Nelson was not a good idea.

Almost a week has gone by and Carwin has not provided a statement about why his name appeared on a list of athletes that purchased steroids. An answer must be made sooner than later to preserve his image.

You can argue that the steroid issue does not matter. As Bloody Elbow reports, not a lot of the MMA media have pressed the issue in the past week. We will see whether Carwin waits out the media storm or heads out into it.