Antonio Silva is still maintaining his innocence after testing positive for elevated testosterone following his epic fight with Mark Hunt at UFC Fight Night 33.
Silva’s manager, Alex Davis, assured The MMA Hour (h/t Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting) that Silva has a real reason for being on the controversial testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), including an inconvenience suffered by Bigfoot:
This is one of the guys that really have authentic technical reasons to be on TRT. He has acromegaly. His pituitary gland overproduces GH (growth hormone) and that unbalances all his other hormones.
When I started managing him, he was actually lactating. He has extremely low testosterone, so he has a real reason to be on TRT.
Davis echoes what Silva said following the fight in regard to why his levels were so high.
“I didn’t really take part in the TRT process,” Davis said. “There was a miscommunication between him and his doctor.”
Silva says he plans on continuing the treatment, and his manager obviously agrees. Silva is currently serving a nine-month suspension. Regardless of how soiled Silva’s image is (it’s not his first run-in with PED issues), they will have plenty of highlights to show for his return.
Outside of losses to UFC heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez, Silva had an incredible comeback against Alistair Overeem, knocked out surging contender Travis Browne (injury aside) and was part of one of the greatest fights in heavyweight MMA history.
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