Despite only winning one UFC fight in the last five years, Tito Ortiz has developed a pretty good career. He’s one of the biggest superstars in UFC history and one of the greatest light heavyweights of all time.
Granted, he was in his prime during an era that didn’t include Jon Jones or Lyoto Machida or Rashad Evans, but he’s still a lock for the UFC Hall of Fame as long as his relationship with Dana White is stable.
Ortiz has his wacky moments, to be sure, but when he speaks out about controversial topics like testosterone replacement therapy, I’m going to listen. Ortiz told John Joe O’Regan of Fighters Only Magazine:
And I have – for fifteen years I’ve competed and taken my drug tests, random drug tests, and passed everything because I am a true athlete. A lot of these guys are taking these supplements to make themselves more impressive or whatever, to become the fighters they want to be.
That’s their choice – my recommendation is don’t do it. If its against the law or against the sport, don’t do it and if you do have to do it, don’t fight anymore. That’s just my take on it… I will leave it there, I wont go into it any further.
I agree with Ortiz. As just about any legitimate medical doctor will tell you, there are no scenarios in which a man in his 20s or early 30s will need testosterone replacement therapy.
It’s just not medically necessary.
Someone like Todd Duffee, a hulking beast of a man who has yet to reach his 27th birthday, shouldn’t need his testosterone levels artificially boosted. Unless, of course, he’s damaged his body enough through using steroids that his levels are low to begin with.
But if you need a heavy cycle of TRT to bring your natural testosterone levels back to normal, you shouldn’t be fighting.
End of story.
I understand the need for older fighters to go on a TRT regimen, and you’ll never hear me begrudge someone like Dan Henderson the right to TRT usage. Henderson isn’t using testosterone to achieve an advantage in training; he’s simply using the drug to help him get back to normal levels. That’s a real explanation.
What I don’t understand—and never will understand—are fighters, still in the prime of their careers, who claim that they need testosterone to help them fight.
They don’t need it. They’re looking for an advantage. And if they truly need it, then their bodies are damaged past the point where they should be fighting.
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