Jose Canseco, the baseball star largely responsible for exposing the steroids scandal, took to Twitter on Sunday night to address controversy regarding his attempt to join the mixed martial arts organization known as Strikeforce.
"The world is filled with jealous, envious, hypocrites and haters. Being quiet and nice has gotten me nowhere," Canseco said in one tweet Sunday. Earlier, he said "F— all the haters and jealous pricks. Just know I am angry and fed up. Focused and determined to right my ship."
Canseco and former NFL running back Herschel Walker traded barbs earlier in February in advance of Walker's MMA debut victory on Feb. 13, when he knocked out Greg Nagy in the third round. Canseco wrote that "I may have to show Herschel Walker who the real bad boy of the sports industry is."
Walker previously called Canseco out for a lack of commitment to his own MMA career. The 45-year-old Canseco lost just 1:17 into the first round on May 29, 2009, for the MMA Dream organization.
Canseco has made no secret of his desire to fight Walker in the MMA ring, but he has not been able to make it happen. Canseco vented on Twitter, saying, "I am a 45-year-old man trying to do what you haters don't have the balls to do. The media has done nothing but lie about me and made me a monster."
On Feb. 11, Canseco tweeted that he was about to meet with Strikeforce representatives, presumably to set up a fight with Walker, an event that was quickly debunked by Strikeforce director of communications Mike Afromowitz. Confirmed, however, was that Canseco was meeting with Cesar Gracie, who also trains three Strikeforce champions.
"If the Gracie camp will have me, it would be an honor to be trained by them," Canseco tweeted. "They are the final piece to the puzzle."
Canseco was a former star for the Oakland Athletics and also played for the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox and Toronto Blue Jays. He won the Rookie of the Year award in 1986, followed up by a MVP in 1988 and was part of the "Bash Brothers" along with Mark McGwire in Oakland.
He is best known for his admission of using steroids in his 2005 book, Juiced. His revelations, in which he claimed that other players including McGwire and Rafael Palmiero used steroids, rocked the baseball world. A congressional investigation was launched, which then forced baseball to add a more stringent drug program. He has, however, been looked upon with derision by many in and out of the game for his tell-all book, regardless of the effect it had on the sport.
