While Testosterone Replacement Therapy remains the hot button issue for this era of Mixed Martial Arts, it seems Dana White has taken no issue with TRT use as long as it’s not taken advantage of. White, who had disparaging remarks in the past, even firing Nate Marquardt for TRT use in June of last year, has changed his tune. As he told Fox Sports:
“Here’s the thing about TRT. It’s absolutely 100% legal. As sports medicine continues to advance, this is one of those things where every guy’s testosterone level starts to drop as they get older and this is basically sports science now where they can bring it back up to a normal level. And I think it’s great, it’s absolutely fair, it’s legal .The problem is, there are guys who say if this much is good, this much must be great, so you have guys who are always trying to do more than they’re supposed to do. The big job is policing it, making sure that it’s not being abused, that guys are using it the way it’s supposed to be used.”
One fighter who seemed to take offense to the UFC President’s comments is a recent supporter of VADA testing, Roy Nelson, who will be a coach on the forthcoming season of the Ultimate Fighter alongside Shane Carwin. “Big Country” took to twitter to mock the president’s comments.
“The Juice is good, Dana White says so as long as you don’t over do it… Now I know why Overeem is OK NOW! I feel like some OJ”
It seems Nelson and White have been at odds at just about every turn since “Big Country” joined the cast of The Ultimate Fighter 10, which he would go on to win. The Nevada native, who is often criticized by White for his corpulent appearance among other things, has always been known to be a bit rebellious and outspoken, but at this point it seems as though he just hates employment as Nelson’s comments were sent directly to both White and The UFC’s official twitter accounts.
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Lol straight to their personal accounts…love this dude. What a clown.
Good for B.C.–someone needed to call out Dana White for talking out of both sides of his mouth.
Agreed. I am 37, have been at mma amateurishly since 99, and various martial arts competitions and kick boxing since 90. I never took it very seriously, until recently when people’s sponsors started paying me to work with them. I have no name, I am nobody. Anyway, at my age, when I was tested, I fall below test levels by a few percent, and have been told that trt would cure that and give me a fairly decent performance boost. I have not done it for personal reasons, as much as I would like to think that a strong mind and sheer willpower will get what I need done. So far it has worked well, and there are tons of natural ways to elevate test levels without resorting to chemicals or actual trt. I find it hard to believe that any sports/physical competition organization would condone such chemical replacements at all. If you are at a point in your life where your test levels are so low, that you cannot work out, or compete, it’s time to retire. IMO anyway. Personal view, nothing more.
I COUND NOT AGREE WITH YOU MORE AARON, IF FIGHTERS CANT KEEP UP WITH THE TRAINING AND COMPETITION MAYBE ITS TIME TO HANG IT UP. I THINK ITS AN ADVANTAGE TO TO FIGHTERS WITH MORE EXPERIENCE AND NOW HAVING HIGHER TES. LEVELS. NICE TO HEAR AN HONEST ANSWER FROM SOMEONE WHO COMPETES AT THAT LEVEL.
Good post. I agree with you on some levels. I also wonder why if there are legal natural ways to elevate t levels why don’t more fighters use them? As for why a fighter would not retire when the t levels drop. Well I myself am not a fighter but if I were I would find it difficult to walk away from the money and fame a fighter gets and move on. But thats my opinion.
To us, it all seems perfectly reasonable to prefer to take something “natural” versus something prescribed. But then again, our livelihoods are not predicated on punching someone before they punch you and/or submitting someone before they submit you. Or some combination of those two.
However (ignoring the ethics of the situation for the moment), it is safer from one point of view to use something prescribed due to the higher scrutiny and better documentation of the prescribed substance versus the FDA-unregulated supplement market. If you are responsible for what goes into your body (as the fighters are), you are responsible for whatever goes in. I would trust something prescribed before wading out into the murky swampland of supplements.
As far as the ethics go, why wouldn’t Dana support this? Most of the biggest names of his sport (and consequently biggest PPV draws and all the money associated with that) have been on TRT, so it stands to reason that if this extends their shelf lives and drawing power it is a good thing for the bottom line of Zuffa to be in favor of that. Once someone isn’t in the UFC, what happens to them isn’t necessarily his concern. From a business stand point, the only thing that matters is getting the most possible fights out of the biggest draws in his organization. If that means supporting TRT, that’s what it means.
Shogun is an MMA hero, but the bacne situation looked different than i remember him looking before. great fight against Vera in any case. Sad to say the fight against another hero of mine Hendo. possibly the best fight ever may have had the scales tipped by TRT. hmm there now rightly should be a 1:1 division , and 4:1 division and a 6:1 division.
there could also be a sky’s the limit division for internet viral video of guys that would dwarf Alistair and Brock
One problem with Dana allowing this (and he is deflecting blame when he says the commissions and rules allow it) fact is he could ban guys who test for banned levels and banned substances. But as rich as he is he’s getting greedier by the minute The guys above speak the plain truth
I read Nelsons tweet and it had a link to 5 or 6 pics of Overeem from small to jacked. I really like that roy says f u to his boss.
Does anyone get the feeling that the UFC is a sinking ship lately… It’s gotten so bad.