With the news breaking that Chael Sonnen failed a random drug test administered by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, per Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com, the perennial contender was quick to speak on the subject. Sonnen reached out to Jay Mohr of Fox Sports Radio. You can listen to the full interview here.
Sonnen tested positive for anastrozole and clomiphene and acknowledged that he was taking drugs normally deemed illegal by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Here is a transcription of what Sonnen told Mohr, courtesy of FoxSportsRadio.com:
They changed the ruling in Nevada earlier this year, doing away with the TRT, testosterone replacement therapy, and I was on that. So when they changed the rule, we all had to go through a transition phase. For me during the transition, I had to take a couple of things. One is called Clomiphene…and another is called HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin).
Sonnen, obviously, claims he was using the drugs to help taper off from his use of testosterone replacement therapy. The controversial treatment, which allowed competitors to raise testosterone levels using synthetic testosterone if deemed by a doctor to have naturally low levels, was banned in February by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, as have many other governing bodies across the United States.
Sonnen and his opponent for his ill-fated UFC 175 matchup, Vitor Belfort, are the two fighters most commonly associated with TRT. He continued:
The confusing part is that for a non-anabolic, non-steroid, non-performance enhancing agent that is perfectly legal and that I need for a healthy life…essentially, they are saying you have to choose between health and sport. It’s very tough for me because I was very upfront about it being in my system. Why was it in my system? Because I took it!
Indeed, the drugs Sonnen took are not steroids. Sonnen acknowledged taking HCG (which some fans will remember as the drug featherweight Dennis Siver was suspended for using in March), which is banned by athletic commissions due to it often being used to help athletes wean themselves off steroids.
Clomiphene, meanwhile, is used as a female fertility drug. Former Cincinnati Reds pitcher Edinson Volquez famously received a 50-game suspension in 2010 for taking clomiphene, in spite of it being banned by Major League Baseball’s drug policy.
Regardless of the reasons, Sonnen‘s UFC 175 fight with Belfort has officially been scrapped, per Okamoto’s report. Sonnen will likely appear before the Nevada State Athletic Commission in the coming months to contest the results of his test.
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