Nevada State Athletic Commission’s (NSAC) decision to ban the therapeutic use of testosterone (TRT) in MMA will create controversy.
Longtime MMA manager Alex Davis is against the decision. Manager of Antonio Silva, one of the UFC fighters who were using TRT inside the Octagon, Davis believes that banning the treatment won’t stop fighters from cheating.
“I think it’s wrong because many people need it for medical reasons,” Davis told MMAFighting.com. “If you have low testosterone, you need it. They shouldn’t ban it. Some people abuse testosterone in many cases, but I don’t think that banning TRT will change it because there are other ways to cheat the drug tests.
“That’s not the solution. We need better testing. There are a lot of PEDs that we don’t even know yet, but people are using it.”
“Bigfoot’s testosterone level on the day of his fight with Mark Hunt was outside the allowable limit, and he blames CABMMA’s medical director Dr. Marcio Tannure for the results. Some fighters really need TRT, Davis says, and they will be in disadvantage now.
“The only athlete I manage that is on TRT is ‘Bigfoot,’ and it’s proven clinically that he needs it,” he said. “He’s not cheating or anything like that. If you have low testosterone, you should have the right to use it to get your testosterone to normal levels.”
Davis is not convinced that NSAC’s decision to ban TRT is related to Vitor Belfort’s title fight with Chris Weidman in Las Vegas, NV, on May 24, but he wants people to understand what TRT is before judging it.
“I don’t know if it’s because of Vitor or not, but the whole TRT thing is misunderstood,” he said. “It’s a medical situation. Low testosterone affects your training and your performance. Every fighter should have the right to have normal testosterone levels.”