(“Thank God there aren’t random drug tests in @EASPORTSUFC” — former CP writer Jason Moles dropping truth bombs.)
Just moments ago, word was handed down that Chael Sonnen had failed a random drug test administered last month (you know, the same one that he verbally executed Wanderlei Silva for skipping out on), and had been pulled from his UFC 175 fight against Vitor Belfort as a result. Being the master of spin-control that Sonnen is, The American Gangster attempted to get out in front of the story by appearing on comedian Jay Mohr’s sports radio show and explaining himself before the ESPN story broke. Attempted being the point of emphasis here.
Instead, Sonnen partook in a rushed interview that not only failed to beat the ESPN story out of the gate, but left as many questions as it answered. Mohr also chimed in at one point that Sonnen should use the next 30 days before his hearing to get “loaded up on steroids,” so there’s that to look forward to as well.
Sonnen’s statement, along with a full transcription (via MMAFighting) is after the jump.
They changed the ruling in Nevada. Earlier this year they did away with what’s known as TRT — Testosterone Replacement Therapy — in Nevada, and I was on that. So when they changed the rule, we all had to go through a transition phase. For me, for the transition, I had to take a couple of things: one is called clomiphene and the other is called HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin). So this is what we did. And I took my boards out of the water in the meantime, meaning I didn’t fight, I didn’t ask for a license. You had to wait to cross this bridge, if you will.
In the interim, they did a test. I tested positive for these things, which I should have. I took them. They were in my system. That wasn’t a surprise. These aren’t anabolics, these aren’t steroids, these aren’t performance-enhancers. None of that stuff. But they have deemed that they are banned substances.
What’s interesting, in my case, we’re out of competition. These are not things that I showed up with on gameday. This is out of competition due to a rule that they changed. So this is kind of an odd spot for me.
What happens is they do out-of-competition testing, and the lab that they went to is the USADA [United States Anti-Doping Agency] lab. Now the USADA lab is the greatest lab in the world. It’s a very sensitive test. We had done our own tests, at our own labs, and we thought that everything was out of the system. These were not secrets that I took this stuff. This is what you have to take when you’re coming off testosterone. But any rate, it was picked up on their test. Now they can handle that however they want. They can look at that and go, Yeah, this makes sense to us, or they can say, You know what? We don’t like this. And they can do either one. They’re the commission. I just got to be a reactor and live with it. The confusing part is for a non-anabolic, non-steroid, non-performance enhancing agent that is perfectly legal that I need for a healthy life, essentially they’re saying you gotta choose between health and sport.
It’s very tough for me too because I did a number of interviews talking about what I’ve done, whether it’s on UFC Tonight, Canada, UK, Brazil … I couldn’t have told any more people. So when this came back they said, Why did this come back in your system? I said, Why did it come back in my system? Because I took it. I’ve been taking it. I had to take it because you guys changed the rules. So I did feel a little bit frustrated in that regard. And they may listen to me, they may agree with me, but the way this works is I now have to go to a hearing. And that hearing gets kicked down the road who knows how many days. I have a fight in 30 days, there’s no way the hearing will be before then.
There is a little bit of a confusion on the rules. It’s kind of tough where you’re like, Oh, really? This is a banned substance? Where do we find that? Who exactly do we go to for clarity on this? And the commission has always been very clear. Whether it’s the Nevada Commission, and now there is a new guy at the helm [Bob Bennett], but the old executive director [Keith Kizer], I’ve got quotes I downloaded right off the Internet, but he has been very clear that there is a clear distinctions between gameday and out-of-competition testing. Now you could never take an anabolic or anything, I understand that. This is not an anabolic. This is not a steroid. These are just the substances I had to go to transition, who’s also having — this is a very private part of my life I wasn’t planning to share with anybody — but I’m having fertility issues.
The next scheduled meeting of the NSAC is scheduled for June 17th, where Vitor Belfort will also have his hearing for his failed drug test back in February. It has yet to be confirmed whether or not Sonnen’s hearing will go down on the same date.
Sonnen is set to appear on FOX Sports at any moment to further explain his failed test, so we will have more on this story as it develops. In the meantime, I’m just going to go lay my head down and think of how hilarious it would be if Jon Jones offered to step in and save UFC 175 by fighting Wanderlei Silva on a day’s notice.