(Then again, it seems to be working out pretty well for Clay Guida so far.)
Hell must have frozen over, because for once, we are in agreement with Dana White.
We’re not going to waste your time by recounting all of the endless press the issue of testosterone replacement therapy has received as of late, which would take us no less than twenty pages to complete. But needless to say, guys like Frank Mir are proving that damn near anyone can receive a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) for TRT if they are willing to fill out the proper paperwork, and we’ve only begun to see the amount of fighters who will likely begin to hop on that bandwagon as time goes on.
But with his win at UFC 148, Anderson Silva basically proved that a vicious knee trumps TRT nearly 100 percent of the time, a notion that the UFC President really wishes he could drive home in one way or another. White recently sat down with ESPN’s Todd Grisham to discuss everything from fighter pay rates to the absolute sack of horseshit that was the Manny Pacquiao/Timothy Bradley decision. Being the polarizing subject that TRT is, Grisham brought up the possibility of the UFC having two fighters currently using testosterone as champions, were Chael Sonnen to defeat Silva and Dan Henderson to defeat Jon Jones, and what White would think of that. And we gotta say, we were rather impressed with Dana’s level-headed response. It was almost as if he had considered both sides of the story, rather than lashing out with personal attacks at the first person to speak up about a slightly sensitive issue. Like we said, the sky must be falling.
White’s response to the question, which comes at the 8:55 mark, went like this:
The bottom line is, the way that this TRT works, it’s absolutely 100 percent legal with the – let me explain one more thing. We’re regulated by the government. We’re really the only sport that’s actually regulated by the government and the government allows these guys to do this TRT. And basically over the next 10 years, sports science keeps getting better and better and better and the way that TRT works is as we get older your testosterone level drops, and this (TRT) is to replace it. The problem with it is, you got guys going ‘well if this much is good, this (more) must be great. That’s the problem and you will find guys that cheat even with the stuff that’s legal.
White continued that if you need to find a case against TRT usage, look no further than middleweight champ and pound for pound GOAT Anderson Silva:
That’s what we’re trying to – you make a good point and Anderson Silva said it at the press conference the other day. Anderson Silva, the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world has broke every record in the UFC and is the greatest fighter ever in mixed martial arts. He’s 38 years old, people don’t realize that, he’s not 28, he’s 38, and he’s not doing testosterone replacement therapy. This guy comes in 100 percent natural and he beats everybody. And something should be said for that, I don’t disagree. You know the guys who are using testosterone replacement therapy going up against a guy who isn’t, and this guy’s still the greatest in the world. So to me, the bottom line is you don’t need that junk. If you don’t abuse stuff earlier in your career, you’ll never need to use that kind of junk.
When asked if the decision were up to him regarding the legality of TRT in MMA (or at least the UFC), White stated that it would in fact be illegal.
As we’ve already heard from guys like former Heavy/Light Heavyweight champion Randy Couture, the potential pitfalls of TRT by far outweigh the benefits, and are becoming popular not out of necessity, but out of a desire to feel young again. Then again, Sonnen has shown that TRT can have a hell of an effect on the decision-making process, so maybe the natural fighters of the world would actually prefer to fight guys who are so confident in themselves as a result of “therapy” that they throw techniques well beyond their abilities. But what do you think, Potato Nation?