(“Taking testosterone is no different than Flintstone vitamins. Ask Cris Santos.”)
Chael Sonnen made a stop by SPIKE TV last night and sort of addressed his TRT use exemption and the suspension he received following his UFC 117 title fight with Anderson Silva for failing to disclose to California State Athletic Commission officials that he took the hormone prior to the bout.
Host Craig Carton segued into the topic while they were discussing Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s recent revelation that he is on the youth tonic as well. Sonnen was quick to point out that there are plenty of other substances that are better performance-enhancing-wise, but then denied that testosterone was a performance enhancer. Classic contradictory and convoluted Chael.
“There’s two things there. Hold on. If you’re gonna associate the guy with TRT, make sure you also associate the fact that it’s legal and it’s not banned. Second thing with TRT is people are really getting confused. They look at TRT and they’re missing the stuff that really is good,” Sonnen explained. “TRT is eight, nine, 10 on the list of things that a person could take to help their careers go along. Secondly, any time a person says ‘performance enhancer,’ stop talking to them, because they don’t have the intellect to debate with you.”
Then “The Gangster from America” went on to say that he wouldn’t take a substance if it didn’t better his performance.
“I wanna make this point: I would never take anything, ever, if I didn’t think it would help my performance,” Chael said. “That’s what medicine is in 21st century America. Imagine if you go to the doctor and say, ‘Doc, I’m feeling great. You got anything that can bring me down a notch?’ That’s malpractice. It’s all meant to help your performance.”
So what is it, is T a performance enhancer or not? Carton believes it is when the athlete has enhanced levels of it in his or her system when they compete, and he calls Chael on it since his levels were curiously high for the Silva fight.
“No, no, no. Absolutely not. Not only did I not take more of it [before the fight], I was never even accused of that. Josh Gross, who’s incompetent beyond measure, went on ESPN and said that I did, so it became my reality, so I went with it,” he pointed out. “I was never even accused of that. The final thought it this: Is it legal or is it not legal? If a person’s taking a legal substance, that’s the end of the conversation. Testosterone is legal.”
So Josh Gross and Kenny Rice are now on Chael’s “do not talk to” list. It’s a pretty safe bet that Carton will be added to it now too, especially after cracking a joke that Sonnen tested for higher test levels than an elephant for the fight.
“You’re makin’ that up. You’re sounding a lot like Josh Gross. You absolutely did not [see the test results]. [CSAC] is a government agency. I was extremely transparent. I was never even accused of [taking too much testosterone before the fight],” Sonnen corrected. “Josh Gross reported that. It was a non-disclosure issue. I don’t know how they would have handled it [if I had won the title], because at the end of the day I was punished.”
Thankfully the UFC didn’t have to cross that bridge. Having to call Anderson in to Zuffa HQ so Dana could hand him a big fancily wrapped package to open with the belt in it would have been awkward, especially when everyone jumped out and yelled, “Surprise!!!” It would have made for an entertaining video blog by Dana, though.