This past weekend at the UFC on FUEL TV 7 post-fight press conference UFC president Dana White gave his thoughts on the use of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). Dana explained that he is against the use of TRT and that he thinks that some fighters may be using it to gain an unfair advantage.
“I’m against it. If you asked me three months ago, it’s legal, it’s sport science. But everybody figures out a way to take a great thing and cheat and make it bad. I think from what I’ve seen over the last year, I’ve seen situations where guys…Those of you that know what testosterone replacement is, if you-re older, your testosterone starts to get lower. Well, they can give you testosterone to get you back up to a 25-year-old. What I believe guys are doing is jacking up this stuff through the roof through their entire training camp, then getting back down to normal levels right before the fight, which is cheating.” – Dana White.
White’s thoughts on TRT followed comments made by UFC middleweight fighter Tom Watson, who defeated Stanislav Nedkov earlier that night. He laid down a challenge to any fighter using TRT.
“I’m in the industry. I fight, and I see it. I don’t know if it’s me, but I look at guys and you can see which guys are on it. It’s a problem that we’re trying to deal with.” Watson also said. “If you wanna take drugs, you wanna be a cheat, let me fight you and lets see what happens.” – Tom Watson.
With TRT being such a hot topic in Mixed Martial Arts, it is definitely interesting to hear the UFC president’s feelings on the subject. It is still an issue that leaves many people within the industry confused about whether or not it is being used correctly. Maybe Dana’s suggestion to introduce heavier testing could be a step in the right direction as fighters abusing the option of being able to use testosterone legally seems rather unfair.
Let’s hope that a solution is found sooner rather then later as misuse of a substance to gain an unfair advantage is simply unacceptable. Using a legal therapy like TRT is fine, but abusing that access and using it to make gains above and beyond the intended level is not fair on your opponent.
“I hate it, I don’t like it, and I’m going to fight it. And if you are using TRT in the UFC, we’re going to start testing the s**t out of you through your entire camp.”
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[…] Even UFC president Dana White has chimed in on the use of TRT in the MMA, saying that “everybody figures out a way to take a great thing and cheat and make it bad… What I believe guys are doing is jacking up this stuff through their entire training camp, then getting back down to normal levels right before the fight, which is cheating.” White has proposed a solution to the problem of illegitimate testosterone abuse by MMA fighters: ramp up the random testing of fighters during training camp. […]