UFC light heavyweight Chael Sonnen recently stated that his TRT exemption for his upcoming bout against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at the TD Garden in Boston had been accepted. The reality of the situation isn’t that black and white, at least right now.
Sonnen, in talking to Boston.com said, “That got accepted on the record. They had a meeting.” When Bleacher Report contacted the Massachusetts State Athletic Commission on the issue, they offered the following statement via email:
The Massachusetts State Athletic Commission has not issued a license to Chael Sonnen to participate in the August MMA event scheduled in Boston but has preliminarily agreed to allow him to fight. Sonnen, however, would be required to undergo testing to determine his testosterone levels both before and after the contest. TUE (therapeutic use exemption) for testosterone is uncharted territory for the Commission which has sent the issue to its Medical Advisory Board to determine allowable ratios prior to the fight and issuing Mr. Sonnen a fight license.
As the statement indicates, it does appear that Sonnen will be allowed to fight on the card. However, the issue of Sonnen’s therapeutic use exemption for testosterone replacement therapy, seems to be a bit of a gray area.
It seems as if Sonnen is the first fighter that has requested a TUE in the state of Massachusetts. As such, the Commission has not yet determined what the allowable ratio of testosterone to epitstosterone Sonnen will need to meet for his TUE. The Medical Advisory Board is scheduled to discuss that topic during an August 8 executive session.
In Nevada, that ratio is 6:1, for the state of California and Olympic athletes the allowable ratio is 4:1. Sonnen tested with a ratio of 16.9:1 in California following his UFC 117 loss to then middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
Sonnen was suspended for six-months following that fight for failing to properly disclose his use of testosterone replacement therapy for the August 7, 2010 fight with Silva.
Sonnen (27-13-1) will face former UFC light heavyweight champion Rua (21-7) in the main event of the first UFC on Fox Sports 1 card on August 17.
Bleacher Report will have more on this story as it develops.
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