The Nevada State Athletic Commission struck a blow for fair, healthy MMA competition today, voting for an immediate ban on testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). Therapeutic usage exemptions (TUE) will no longer be granted to fighters, even for those who had been approved to use hormone therapy in the past. Furthermore, the NSAC will push other states to ban TRT as well, and won’t honor the TUEs approved by other state commissions.
And so, MMA’s biggest PED loophole has been closed by the country’s most influential athletic commission — and other state athletic commissions may be forced to follow suit. Vitor Belfort will have to fight clean in Nevada, along with everybody else who previously had doctor’s notes for testosterone.
It’s a good day for the sport. We’ll update you with any major developments that follow.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission struck a blow for fair, healthy MMA competition today, voting for an immediate ban on testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). Therapeutic usage exemptions (TUE) will no longer be granted to fighters, even for those who had been approved to use hormone therapy in the past. Furthermore, the NSAC will push other states to ban TRT as well, and won’t honor the TUEs approved by other state commissions.
And so, MMA’s biggest PED loophole has been closed by the country’s most influential athletic commission — and other state athletic commissions may be forced to follow suit. Vitor Belfort will have to fight clean in Nevada, along with everybody else who previously had doctor’s notes for testosterone.
It’s a good day for the sport. We’ll update you with any major developments that follow.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission struck a blow for fair, healthy MMA competition today, voting for an immediate ban on testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). Therapeutic usage exemptions (TUE) will no longer be granted to fighters, even for those who had been approved to use hormone therapy in the past. Furthermore, the NSAC will push other states to ban TRT as well, and won’t honor the TUEs approved by other state commissions.
And so, MMA’s biggest PED loophole has been closed by the country’s most influential athletic commission — and other state athletic commissions may be forced to follow suit. Vitor Belfort will have to fight clean in Nevada, along with everybody else who previously had doctor’s notes for testosterone.
It’s a good day for the sport. We’ll update you with any major developments that follow.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission struck a blow for fair, healthy MMA competition today, voting for an immediate ban on testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). Therapeutic usage exemptions (TUE) will no longer be granted to fighters, even for those who had been approved to use hormone therapy in the past. Furthermore, the NSAC will push other states to ban TRT as well, and won’t honor the TUEs approved by other state commissions.
And so, MMA’s biggest PED loophole has been closed by the country’s most influential athletic commission — and other state athletic commissions may be forced to follow suit. Vitor Belfort will have to fight clean in Nevada, along with everybody else who previously had doctor’s notes for testosterone.
It’s a good day for the sport. We’ll update you with any major developments that follow.
Of note: The fight is taking place in Las Vegas. Belfort’s last three fights were located in Brazil. Conspiratorially minded individuals suspected this clever booking had something to do with Belfort’s much-maligned TRT use. When venerable MMA journalist Kevin Iole tried to separate himself from Dana White’s cheerleaders (aka the MMA media) and call attention to the issue, he was reprimanded.
The TRT issue will, in some ways, overshadow the combatants and the other narratives present in the fight—Weidman coming into his own as champion after definitely proving his superiority over Silva, Belfort’s resurgence as a top contender, etc. The Nevada State Athletic Commission is unsure of whether they’ll award Belfort a therapeutic use exemption, while Dana White has switched stances on the TRT issue. He’s now hoping the commission denies Belfort’s TUE request and TRT gets banned from MMA. Go figure.
It’s going to be an interesting spring.
(Chris Weidman cheers on NSAC officials as they deliberate. / Photo via Getty)
Of note: The fight is taking place in Las Vegas. Belfort’s last three fights were located in Brazil. Conspiratorially minded individuals suspected this clever booking had something to do with Belfort’s much-maligned TRT use. When venerable MMA journalist Kevin Iole tried to separate himself from Dana White’s cheerleaders (aka the MMA media) and call attention to the issue, he was reprimanded.
The TRT issue will, in some ways, overshadow the combatants and the other narratives present in the fight—Weidman coming into his own as champion after definitely proving his superiority over Silva, Belfort’s resurgence as a top contender, etc. The Nevada State Athletic Commission is unsure of whether they’ll award Belfort a therapeutic use exemption, while Dana White has switched stances on the TRT issue. He’s now hoping the commission denies Belfort’s TUE request and TRT gets banned from MMA. Go figure.
While anyone with half a brain should conclude that a) there is no way in Hell a 6’4″, 260 pound former steroid user actually needs TRT to survive and b) even if he did, then he probably shouldn’t be fighting for a living, Silva’s manager, Alex Davis, continues to rally for his client, even if it requires him to relay horrifying and embarrassing stories like this one (via MMAFighting):
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.
WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF NOW, JACK BYRNES?!
So in addition to being a dirty steroid user, Bigfoot Silva is probably the worst person to roll with in the history of ever. Glad we could establish that.
(That nickname is *really* starting to make sense now…)
Well, it’s safe to say that the recently decided upon Potato Award for “Grossest Mental Image of the Year” is all but a lock now.
While anyone with half a brain should conclude that a) there is no way in Hell a 6’4″, 260 pound former steroid user actually needs TRT to survive and b) even if he did, then he probably shouldn’t be fighting for a living, Silva’s manager, Alex Davis, continues to rally for his client, even if it requires him to relay horrifying and embarrassing stories like this one (via MMAFighting):
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.
WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF NOW, JACK BYRNES?!
So in addition to being a dirty steroid user, Bigfoot Silva is probably the worst person to roll with in the history of ever. Glad we could establish that.
And now that we’ve all finished voiding the contents of our stomachs at the thought of Silva being milked by a farmhand to provide sustenance for the malnourished townspeople of Brasilia, let’s get into the cause of his most recent failed test, which I can assure you was *definitely* not his fault:
He took the instructions wrong, but he did not try to cheat. What happened was, there was a miscommunication with the doctor and he ended up taking injections at the wrong time. He was taking (once) a month then started taking (once) a week. He took one a week before the fight and one at the week of the fight, which wasn’t supposed to. It got mixed up.
So let me get this straight: Silva’s doctor advises him to inject himself once a month, he “takes the instructions wrong” and starts injecting once a week, and the doctor is somehow to blame? Unless the doctor gave Silva instructions handwritten in Taiwanese braille, what could possibly be the miscommunication here?
I’m not saying that Silva is the only one to blame, but considering his past, you’d think he would make an effort to double or triple check the stipulations of his treatment before moving forward with it. There’s a big difference between ignorance and wilful ignorance, and after 8 years in the game, Silva has moved past the point where the former can be used as an excuse, even when dealing with a relatively new science like TRT. Knowledge is progress, and Silva won’t learn a thing until he stops placing the blame for his mistakes on everyone but himself and understands that he might be responsible for what he chooses to inject into his own body.
While anyone with half a brain should conclude that a) there is no way in Hell a 6’4″, 260 pound former steroid user actually needs TRT to survive and b) even if he did, then he probably shouldn’t be fighting for a living, Silva’s manager, Alex Davis, continues to rally for his client, even if it requires him to relay horrifying and embarrassing stories like this one (via MMAFighting):
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.
WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF NOW, JACK BYRNES?!
So in addition to being a dirty steroid user, Bigfoot Silva is probably the worst person to roll with in the history of ever. Glad we could establish that.
(That nickname is *really* starting to make sense now…)
Well, it’s safe to say that the recently decided upon Potato Award for “Grossest Mental Image of the Year” is all but a lock now.
While anyone with half a brain should conclude that a) there is no way in Hell a 6’4″, 260 pound former steroid user actually needs TRT to survive and b) even if he did, then he probably shouldn’t be fighting for a living, Silva’s manager, Alex Davis, continues to rally for his client, even if it requires him to relay horrifying and embarrassing stories like this one (via MMAFighting):
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.
WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF NOW, JACK BYRNES?!
So in addition to being a dirty steroid user, Bigfoot Silva is probably the worst person to roll with in the history of ever. Glad we could establish that.
And now that we’ve all finished voiding the contents of our stomachs at the thought of Silva being milked by a farmhand to provide sustenance for the malnourished townspeople of Brasilia, let’s get into the cause of his most recent failed test, which I can assure you was *definitely* not his fault:
He took the instructions wrong, but he did not try to cheat. What happened was, there was a miscommunication with the doctor and he ended up taking injections at the wrong time. He was taking (once) a month then started taking (once) a week. He took one a week before the fight and one at the week of the fight, which wasn’t supposed to. It got mixed up.
So let me get this straight: Silva’s doctor advises him to inject himself once a month, he “takes the instructions wrong” and starts injecting once a week, and the doctor is somehow to blame? Unless the doctor gave Silva instructions handwritten in Taiwanese braille, what could possibly be the miscommunication here?
I’m not saying that Silva is the only one to blame, but considering his past, you’d think he would make an effort to double or triple check the stipulations of his treatment before moving forward with it. There’s a big difference between ignorance and wilful ignorance, and after 8 years in the game, Silva has moved past the point where the former can be used as an excuse, even when dealing with a relatively new science like TRT. Knowledge is progress, and Silva won’t learn a thing until he stops placing the blame for his mistakes on everyone but himself and understands that he might be responsible for what he chooses to inject into his own body.
Start praying to whatever deity you see fit, Taters, because it looks like some progress is finally being made in the ongoing war against TRT in MMA. Yesterday, The Association of Ringside Physicians — an “international, non-profit organization dedicated to the health and safety of the boxer and mixed martial arts athlete” — released a statement calling for the end of therapeutic use exemptions for testosterone replacement therapy in combat sports, on the grounds that the treatment is being quote “abused out the asshole” by MMA fighters.
Alright, that quote might have been made up but this one definitely isn’t:
The incidence of hypogonadism requiring the use of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) in professional athletes is extraordinarily rare. Accordingly, the use of an anabolic steroid such as testosterone in a professional boxer or mixed martial artist is rarely justified.
Steroid use of any type, including unmerited testosterone, significantly increases the safety and health risk to combat sports athletes and their opponents. TRT in a combat sports athlete may also create an unfair advantage contradictory to the integrity of sport. Consequently, the Association of Ring side Physicians supports the general elimination of therapeutic use exemptions (TUE) for testosterone replacement therapy.
What does this mean, exactly? Not much. Or rather, not much yet.
Start praying to whatever deity you see fit, Taters, because it looks like some progress is finally being made in the ongoing war against TRT in MMA. Yesterday, The Association of Ringside Physicians — an “international, non-profit organization dedicated to the health and safety of the boxer and mixed martial arts athlete” — released a statement calling for the end of therapeutic use exemptions for testosterone replacement therapy in combat sports, on the grounds that the treatment is being quote “abused out the asshole” by MMA fighters.
Alright, that quote might have been made up but this one definitely isn’t:
The incidence of hypogonadism requiring the use of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) in professional athletes is extraordinarily rare. Accordingly, the use of an anabolic steroid such as testosterone in a professional boxer or mixed martial artist is rarely justified.
Steroid use of any type, including unmerited testosterone, significantly increases the safety and health risk to combat sports athletes and their opponents. TRT in a combat sports athlete may also create an unfair advantage contradictory to the integrity of sport. Consequently, the Association of Ring side Physicians supports the general elimination of therapeutic use exemptions (TUE) for testosterone replacement therapy.
What does this mean, exactly? Not much. Or rather, not much yet.
You see, the ARP doesn’t actually have any power to get the gears moving on an anti-TRT crusade — they are simply the most respected organization so far to come out against it. That they decided to release such a statement, however, does further the notion that TRT is no longer just a topic of debate among hardcore MMA fans. And as more organizations like the ARP come out against TRT, general awareness regarding the treatment increases. Hopefully, this awareness will in turn put pressure on the doctors handing out unnecessary exemptions to fighters to reconsider.
When you take into account that most of the doctors in charge of monitoring these things appear to have a shaky understanding of the treatments themselves, one would think that further negative publicity could incentivize them to stop handing out exemptions altogether.
And the even better news? Recently converted TRT detractor Dana White has seconded the Association’s claims, stating quote “I am going to use this to fuck those cheating sonsabitches worse than they’ve ever been fucked before.”
I’m being told that the above statement is another unfortunate misquote. The actual statement White made to the Associated Press was:
The doctors came out and said they want to ban it? Well, that’s the answer. It’s legal in the sport. The commissions let you do it. You get an exemption, and you have to be monitored and all the stuff that’s going on, but if they’re going to do away with it? There you go. It’s a problem solved.
Although we think Dana might be misinterpreting the ARP’s statement as that of the actual doctors in charge of handing out TRT exemptions, this is undoubtedly good news for everyone not named Vitor Belfort. So fire up the band, Nation! The time for celebration is nearly upon us! (*releases flock of doves and uses them as skeet practice*)
