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Rampage Jackson admits TRT usage, claims his doctor works for UFC

By Zach Arnold | February 29, 2012

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On April 9th in Sacramento, the California State Athletic Commission (Department of Consumer Affairs) will hold a hearing regarding proposed changes to Athletic Commission regulation that would allow Therapeutic Use Exemptions. What the final outcome will be, nobody is sure. Currently, public comments (e-mails, letters, etc.) are being accepted. You can send your feedback on the matter to the CSAC by finding out the appropriate information here.

Theoretically, one of the allowances of a TUE for MMA fighters could come in the form of TRT (Testosterone Replacement Therapy). I’m disgusted that athletic commissions allow TRT usage amongst fighters in the first place. I’ve long based this position on two factors:

1. Dr. David Black, the man involved in drug testing for both the NFL & WWE, once famously said on 60 Minutes that testosterone is the base chemical of steroids.

2. Two major factors that can lead to needing the use of testosterone amongst fighters/wrestlers is extreme weight cutting or steroid abuse that damages the endocrine system and thus leads to getting a doctor’s prescription for testosterone.

I will not make a blanket statement claiming that all TRT users in MMA previously used or currently abuse steroids. So, don’t put words in my mouth on that front. What I will definitely say is that when you have guys who are extremely muscular and put it to physical use in a cage, that’s an issue that has to be addressed.

We know the names of fighters who have been discussed in the media in relation to TRT. Chael Sonnen. Nate Marquardt. Dan Henderson. And now, you can add Rampage Jackson to the list. More on this below.

Keith Kizer came out last year during the Nate Marquardt incident and tried to make the case for how Nevada’s TUE for TRT usage works. Color me unconvinced. I believe that if you are not currently or actively fighting/training and you need to use testosterone legally, so be it. Once you are active or training again, there should be no allowance for TRT usage under any circumstances. This is fight sport, not tennis. As Victor Conte appropriately stated last year during an interview with Eddie Goldman, MMA is the hurt game. Using testosterone in a hurt game changes how much physical punishment you can inflict on an opponent. This isn’t about running faster. This is about concussing someone in the head as hard as possible during a fight.

Nevermind the fact that all the products being pushed by Big Pharma for “Low T” are being pushed to people in their late 40s or early 50s… look at what age range we are talking about for fighters wanting a TUE to use testosterone. The 18-40 year old demographic. That demographic is great for UFC to attract for a TV viewership but I don’t consider it the right demographic for active fighters to be allowed to use testosterone. Not a chance.

There are people reading this who may be using TRT but aren’t active fighters and, let me assure you, I am not attacking you. You aren’t in a cage trying to physically hurt or cripple someone.

I’m not here to push the issue of doping as one of winning or losing. This is all about safety, in my opinion. The more doping you have in the sport, the more you push the clean athletes out of it and increase the risk of fighters getting seriously hurt or even killed.

Which is why this new Rampage Jackson interview in Fighter’s Only magazine is devastating on many fronts. It’s a terrible public relations situation for UFC. It brings sunlight to an issue that desperately needs to be addressed by grown-ups and not political hacks. This goes right to the core of fighter safety.

I will blockquote some of Rampage’s comments here during the Fighter’s Only interview — but I’ve also made some screen captures in case the interview goes offline.

Screen captures: One | Two | Three

Elbow’s hurt, shoulder’s fucked up, wrist’s fucked up, both my knees fucked up, ankle problems. I fucked my jaw up before I fought Wanderlei and after a while its like man, I am training hard for these fights and I’ve got these injuries and at the back of my mind I’m thinking ‘I just want to retire.’

I never had surgery in my life. But I hurt this knee back in college, I hurt it before I fought Rashad and so I knew it was the same injury… a lot of fights when I am injured I don’t tell anybody but the UFC knew this time because my doctor works for the UFC. Its good that the UFC knew because they look after you, they take care of you even if its just in training. Pride didn’t do that.

I almost pulled out but then I went to see the doctor and he told me to talk to an age-management doctor. So I went and talked to them and they tested me and said my testosterone was low; they prescribed me testosterone, to bring my testosterone levels back up to levels where I can be like… so that I am the same as young people, like when I was 25, and it would help build my knee up. I hurt my knee like a month ago and I only did three shots of testosterone but it put a lot of weight on me, a lot of muscle on me but it healed me knee up good enough to where I could fight.

It was hard for me to train, it takes time to heal, I couldn’t do certain things, but this was my first time ever using testosterone. I took what the doctor prescribed to me and I went to the pharmacy… I gave myself small doses and that shit immediately changed me, that’s why I am saying now I am not going to retire. I am not gonna retire no time soon, its just unfortunate that I got this injury.

So, by this point of the interview, Rampage states his claim that he has a doctor ‘who works for the UFC’ but is smart enough to not name them in the interview… although I’m sure the guessing game online will start right about… now. Then, Rampage claims his ‘UFC doctor’ directed him to someone else and that person ended up writing up a prescription to get testosterone.

So, Rampage already has stepped into it deep here by saying his doctor supposedly works for the UFC and that this connection led him to getting approved for a testosterone prescription. Then he drops this bombshell:

So I spoke to the UFC and they were like ‘yeah, a lot of fighters are probably doing it but not telling anyone.’ Me, I keep it real, I am not doing anything wrong. Its legal and I am not abusing it and I am not going over certain levels. From what I learned about it, when I got tested my levels my levels were really low and the doctor was telling me that athletes can burn testosterone.

This, right here, is Rampage claiming that UFC, as he puts it, ‘probably’ knows that ‘a lot’ of fighters are using testosterone. Chael Sonnen did warn everyone that fighters using testosterone would keep it on the down low after his suspension.

Let’s try to look at it from another point of view here. Imagine if an football player, one of high name ID, came out and said, “Yeah, my doctor, he works for the league and they pushed me to an age-management guy to get testosterone. The league also knows that guys are using testosterone but the users don’t talk about it.” A lot of fans will say, ‘drug usage hasn’t impacted the popularity of pro-football.’ They would be right. It also doesn’t make the situation any less dangerous and acceptable, either. It should be noted that a few years ago, the Pittsburgh Steelers faced this kind of situation a couple of years ago as reported by ESPN concerning Dr. Richard Rydze. The difference here is that the ESPN report notes the claim that the doctor was accused of being a buyer of HGH & testosterone.

As you might expect, the public reaction to Rampage’s interview has not exactly been very positive. Dr. Margaret Goodman of the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association issued this response to our request for comment:

It is difficult to know where to begin after reading the article on testosterone use by Quinton “Rampage” Jackson before his last fight in Japan.

  1. He was obviously unfit to fight due to his knee injury. So who cleared him? How could he be placed at risk?
  2. If what Rampage says is correct, he was given permission to fight on TRT by whom? Was this someone in the UFC?
  3. Who knew about it and when? What about the dangers of testosterone use, let alone the risk to the person’s opponent? What happened to fair, clean fights?
  4. The UFC continues to state they want a clean sport. Rampage’s statements, if true, certainly provide some contrast in the current discussion about what’s acceptable and what isn’t.
  5. Therapeutic Use Exemptions must be taken seriously. As is done by WADA, they take a great deal of time and expertise to determine if warranted. An athlete can’t simply say he’s been injured, is tired, or everyone is using, to get a TUE for testosterone.

If Rampage’s comments are factual, how can the public have a comfort level that UFC fights are fair when certain athletes are allowed to use certain substances and others are dropped or suspended from the organization for use? How can the organization make these determinations when certain substances should be allowed? It isn’t fair, it isn’t thorough, and it seems arbitrary.

I think MMA is a great sport. However, it cannot excel and maintain its image as a great sport with an inherently flawed PED program. Fox, Showtime and its executives should care about their public image when certain athletes are given an unfair advantage or disadvantage.

I hope Rampage’s comments are not true. If they are, there is considerable amount of explaining that needs to be done regarding his allegations as this might affect the organization’s future licensure in the US.

Bottom line, irrespective of where the UFC holds fights, whether there is a commission overseeing the bouts or not, they should run, not walk to an organization that can oversee and develop a proper PED testing program. This can only be done via an independent third party that conducts random unannounced testing year-round.

Margaret Goodman MD
VADA President and Founder
www.VADA-testing.org

Rampage just opened a big can of worms here. How should we look at him after this interview with Fighter’s Only?

Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 55 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

55 Responses to “Rampage Jackson admits TRT usage, claims his doctor works for UFC”

  1. Rob Maysey says:

    I hope Page meant he was referred by someone at the UFC–while not great from a PR perspective, it is far better than the UFC paying the doctor. . .

    As to Ms. Goodman’s comments that this could affect future licensure–color me more than skeptical.

    For all practical purposes, the UFC WRITES the rules, the commissions stamp them.

  2. Body_Shots says:

    TRT is a huge loop hole but it isn’t steriods, it isn’t HGH, and it isn’t against the law. You can be prescribed it by your personal physician & athletic commissions allow it.

    Can anything really come of this? The UFC is always going to hide behind the “government testing”. No one really wants strict WADA testing in prize fighting….or football btw.

    • Zach Arnold says:

      TRT is a huge loop hole but it isn’t steriods, it isn’t HGH, and it isn’t against the law. You can be prescribed it by your personal physician & athletic commissions allow it.

      It’s not ‘steroids’ image-wise, but if testosterone is the base chemical of steroids…

      But, yes, I understand what your point is.

      The hook here on this story is Rampage claiming his doctor is a UFC doctor. If that is accurate, that makes this a story with legs in mainstream sports media.

      • Body_Shots says:

        The doctor thing definitely sounds dubious…every other month you’ll read about the UFC sending this guy or another guy to their chosen doctors for various reasons…it’s a conflict of interest and not much is written about it.

        As far as the legs of the story, I’d really depends on what a ‘UFC doctor’ is.

        I assumed the UFC paid the staff who medically oversee the fights in Nevada to do the same for their international shows…but even in that capacity I don’t see why they’d need to staff any doctor FULL-TIME.

      • Mike Fagan says:

        Why do people say testosterone isn’t a steroid? Or a “steroid”? It’s the naturally-occurring steroid that your body produces. I’m not sure why this continues to be an issue.

        And I say this as someone who thinks steroids should be legal and regulated.

        • Dave says:

          I think the point is, if your body has stopped producing testosterone, it is how your body reacts to the world. Your body can no longer do this, but the thing is, a lot of other guys are having the same issue.

          So it seems unnatural to pump your body full of testosterone to feel ten+ years younger. If you are a fighter and you are 35, why should you be given a hall pass to take something that could give you an advantage over your peers? Because your peers are already doing it and just keeping quiet about it?

          You are getting old, deal with it.

        • Mike Fagan says:

          I might have misread and/or not been clear with what I was trying to say. I was responding to this:

          “TRT is a huge loop hole but it isn’t steroids”

          If you’re taking shots (or pills or whatever) of testosterone to boost your levels, you are taking a steroid.

  3. Chuck says:

    This TRT shit is getting out of hand. I agree with Zach. If you have to use testosterone to operate normally, out of because of long-time weight cutting, long-time steroid use, or naturally decreasing testosterone because of age, then you probably shouldn’t be a fighter. Hey, if you have low T and you can fight effectively, then awesome. But my point still stands otherwise. Fighting isn’t a right, it’s a privilege. Oh, and Zuffa should probably cut Rampage for being a moron in an interview. Almost as bad as Smoothie King saying EXC made it worth his while to keep it standing against Kimbo Slice.

  4. EJ says:

    First off taking anything Rampage says as 100% truth is a mistake he’s known for exaggerating and being full of it at points.

    Second I’m not surprised to hear he has taken TRT, i’m sure there are alot of guys. The funny thing will be when one of the big fan favorites gets exposed as using it, then you will see all the people who bash it show their true colors by excusing it.

    Goodman is reaching hard by trying to make claims that UFC fights aren’t fair, this is where people like her lose credibility. If you have a problem with TRT fine, but let’s not reach as far as she has because you want to make a point.

    • Zach Arnold says:

      Goodman is reaching hard by trying to make claims that UFC fights aren’t fair, this is where people like her lose credibility. If you have a problem with TRT fine, but let’s not reach as far as she has because you want to make a point.

      Abuse of TRT reaches to a core of doping in MMA – double-dipping. Jack up with steroids, wreck your body, and go get a mark doctor to write you a legal prescript for testosterone.

      That’s where the debate should be about TRT usage in MMA. That’s why I don’t think it should be allowed in the first place because the potential for abuse is so rampant.

    • edub says:

      Like Dan Henderson? For over 4 years?

    • Keith Harris says:

      It’s not fair for a fighter significantly younger to face an older fighter with the same levels of testosterone only because they got shots to boost their declining production.

      • Dave says:

        Bingo.

        Dan Henderson at 40 still being able to compete like he’s in his late-twenties or early-thirties by the use of injections just sounds wrong when you talk about it.

        • edub says:

          Exactly. Not to mention nobody talks about the effect of introducing excess testosterone into the body, even if it is to even out the levels.

      • The Gaijin says:

        Isn’t the entire premise of TRT to bring you within normal/acceptable levels for the person their age as opposed to a person 10-15 years younger?

        Some people seem to be using for (and believe it is permitted for) the latter…and I don’t think that’s the case.

        Case in point:

        “…So I went and talked to them and they tested me and said my testosterone was low; they prescribed me testosterone, to bring my testosterone levels back up to levels where I can be like… so that I am the same as young people, like when I was 25, and it would help build my knee up….a lot of muscle on me but it healed my knee up good enough to where I could fight.”

        • Zach Arnold says:

          It’s incredible that this comment Rampage made is one people are ignoring.

          He’s talking about how much muscle he gained so fast with ease and yet you see people online arguing that testosterone isn’t the base chemical of steroids.

          What the hell?

  5. otusa says:

    Dr. Goodman states that “Fox, Showtime and its executives should care about their public image when certain athletes are given an unfair advantage or disadvantage.” TV networks use scandals to create ratings. PED in MLB has caused little concern to TV networks and it will be no different with MMA. The baseball players union, MLB and TV networks are not worried about having the current MVP in a PED scandal.

    Furthermore, commissions and governments do not care about PED. Hearings before Congress produced no changes as to PED in sports. Medical approved TRT produces taxes revenue for governments.

    Most viewers just want to see a good event.

    Only fighters with cash and that care about their health can work with VADA or WADA. In boxing, Mayweather and others top boxers have personally agreed to undergo additional testing.

  6. James Artaius says:

    Certainly puts a different slant on his comments prior to the third Wanderlei fight, where he said that Silva wouldn’t beat him because they weren’t fighting in Japan so “he can’t do that juice he like to do”.

    There was me, thinking the only juice Rampage was interested in was the kind that goes with gin. Or maybe track ten on Biggie’s first album.

  7. white ninja says:

    all good and well to boost testosterone – you will never stop impact atheletes trying to do this whatever they can

    but the problems really happen when you come off the boosted testosterone – depression – and that can be life threatening

    the real issue is whether promoters and governing bodies are turning a blind eye or even actively encouraging this

  8. Norm says:

    This story is not surprisng in the least. It reinforces a commonly held notion that I’ve had about this sport and many other for quite some time. Rampage’s interview just confirms my suspiscions and paints a picture that is a little closer to complete.

    It’s just better living through science.

  9. fd says:

    I think we need to unpack the issue of TRT a bit, because there’s a lot of linked but separate issues.

    First, there’s TRT with the potential for abuse – It doesn’t appear that Nevada tests TRT users for test levels in between fights, which means you can jack your test to unnatural levels, train hard and gain a great deal of strength, and cycle down to “normal” levels by fight time when you get tested. This is obviously abuse, and I think most MMA fans would agree that it is a problem or potential problem if you explained it to them.

    Then, there’s TRT without the potential for abuse – New Jersey, for example, tests TRT athletes for test levels in between fights to ensure they’re staying at “normal” levels (which is how Marquardt wound up getting his license revoked). In this situation, the athlete’s test levels are staying at normal levels both inside and outside the cage – they are essentially a normal athlete, without any hormonal advantage over a normal athlete with normal test levels who is not using chemical enhancement. Most people are going to look at this as a leveling of the playing field, not as cheating or an unfair advantage. Now, Zach, I know that your position is that an older athlete whose test levels have declined should just not be allowed to compete if they need TRT, and that is certainly an opinion that is not unreasonable and your right to have, but when TRT is properly administered so that it is not abused and is therefore not providing what most people would consider an unfair advantage, many people are going to consider this a perfectly reasonable option for older athletes – and that is also not an unreasonable position.

    Yes, there is the possibility of “double dipping” where the athlete “Jack up with steroids, wreck your body, and go get a mark doctor to write you a legal prescript for testosterone”, but there is also the possibility to wind up with low testosterone through completely legal means such as a lifetime of weight cutting (and yes, I realize you don’t like weight cutting either but it is a fact of life for wrestlers, so saying “tough luck” to someone who has wound up with a hormonal condition because of something that is both legal and an accepted part of the sport is not going to be something most people agree with you on) which means that for people who haven’t failed steroid tests, most fans are (rightly or wrongly) going to give them the benefit of the doubt regarding how they wound up with low test.

    Again, I am not trying to sway you from your opinion, but your articles regarding TRT often have an undercurrent of assuming/implying that anyone who doesn’t have a problem with it is just a naive mark willfully blinding themselves because they don’t want to think ill of fighters. I wanted to make the point here that it is not an unreasonable position to be in favor of properly administered TRT for athletes where there is not a preponderance of evidence that their low test is a result of prior steroid abuse.

    • Zach Arnold says:

      This is not a business where self-control amongst fighters in drug usage is demonstrated.

      The percentages are extremely high for abuse of legal and illegal procedures.

      I had a conversation yesterday with someone on TRT and initially they were very defensive about my comments. However, I pointed out that they aren’t in a cage and in a position to concuss someone. That’s really what this is all about.

      It’s not that TRT isn’t a legitimate treatment for those who need it — it’s that it’s being used and abused by both athletes and mark doctors who damn well know what the game is. Jack up on steroids, damage your body, write a prescript so you can continue the process over and over.

      The sad conclusion to all of this is that when fighters are long retired and they sit there having to realize just what incredible damage they did to their body that’s not reversible and how they are going to have to life the rest of their lives taking testosterone or else suffering major consequences.

      • fd2 says:

        “This is not a business where self-control amongst fighters in drug usage is demonstrated.”

        Which is why, as I said, there is a need for properly administered random testing for people on TRT, to ensure that they don’t go above a normal range.

        “It’s not that TRT isn’t a legitimate treatment for those who need it — it’s that it’s being used and abused by both athletes and mark doctors who damn well know what the game is. Jack up on steroids, damage your body, write a prescript so you can continue the process over and over.”

        And again, as I said, this is certainly a possibility, but there are also athletes that wind up damaging their body though completely legal and accepted practices such as weight cutting, so being in favor of TRT when there is no preponderance of evidence of prior steroid abuse is not necessarily “enabling the cycle”. Moreover, properly administered TRT with random tests to ensure the athlete never goes above normal range is not “continu[ing] the process over and over” – Assuming the athlete did abuse steroids in the past, he was getting an unfair and illegal advantage then, but with TRT that never goes outside normal range he is in exactly the same position as normal athletes. Further, TRT at the kind of doses that stay in normal human range doesn’t do the kind of hormonal damage that performance enhancing steroid abuse does – so again they are not “continu[ing] the process over and over”.

        Again, this all assumes that the TRT TUE is being properly administered, such as NJSAC does – Nevada’s current practices are another kettle of fish entirely.

        “The sad conclusion to all of this is that when fighters are long retired and they sit there having to realize just what incredible damage they did to their body that’s not reversible and how they are going to have to life the rest of their lives taking testosterone or else suffering major consequences.”

        This is, indeed, a sad facet of the sport, but banning TRT won’t make it go away – because TRT is specifically for people that are /already in that position/. The damage is done, whether it be through steroid abuse or weight cutting or head injuries or whatever else.

        • AfroSamurai says:

          I see what your saying FD but there is a reason why old fighters retire. It’s because they don’t have it anymore. Fighters weren’t built to fight until their late 40’s because TRT when your TRT starts waining its time to call it quits just like it the old days, when people just said man i just don’t feel it anymore i get tired a little faster than i used to time to go buddy

      • Keith Harris says:

        It’s not just the damage to their endocrine system, but also the extra head trauma they’ll suffer by artificially extending their careers several years past their natural sell by dates.

  10. 45 Huddle says:

    They need to just close up the TRT loophole. If your body isn’t producing enoug testosterone naturally, they get a new profession.

  11. […] Arnold at Fight Opinion has more in-depth analysis on this potentially flammable story, including a response from Dr. Margaret Goodman of the Voluntary Anti-Doping […]

  12. Norm says:

    -How many MMA fighters have said over the years that PED abuse is rampant in the sport? Dennis Hallman was one of the first guys I recall and recently Roy Nelson, but there have also been others that mentioned it as well.

    -I’d love to point out specific examples of when I think guys went “on”, but it’s not the moral or ethical thing to do. I’ll leave the no fact/no source/hackiness to guys like Front Row Brian.

    -It’s been this sports (among others) dirty little secret since guys realized they can make a ton of money. The TRT avenue just opened up a more “legit” means to get it.

    -This Rampage interview might be his passive-aggressive way of getting back at the UFC, as odd as that sounds. He’s an interesting guy and I wouldn’t put something like that past him in the least.

    -I believe at the end of the day this story gets minimal play amongst the MMA blogs and dies. Big legit sites/writes more than likely will not touch it.

    -Just for frame of reference and out of my own curiosity, I’d love for commenters to this article post their age. I’m 33 years old and feel no where near as good as I did when I was 21. If it was as easy for me to get TRT as some of these fighters I’d jump on it in a heart beat. But I am not a fighter.

    • Norm says:

      Just to add an ammendment to the comments above….

      -Zach you’ve seemingly been around this sport and pro wrestling for quite sometime, but after reading your twitter timeline I find your incredulous reaction to the general lack of reaction to this story fascinating to say the least. Perhaps people now just assume fighters “use”?

      -I don’t speak for MMA fans in general, just myself but when I am watching MMA I’m not weighing the rights and wrongs of what they had to do to get to fight night. It’s not important to me. I understand it might be for some people, but then I question why that person watches a sport where two highly skilled, comic book-esque, larger than life guys beat one another up in a fist fight in the first place?

      -IMO, JZ’s tweet to you is just as telling as Rampage’s interview about the general senitment of PEDs in MMA, if not more so.

      Ed. — No question that what JZ said was indicative of a lot of the reaction I got last night offline and today as well. To me, I’m not surprised that people aren’t interested in Rampage using. What I am surprised is that the hook to this story is that his doctor, according to him, is a UFC doctor… and people aren’t batting an eye at this.

  13. Chris says:

    Zach,

    If the UFC is serious about wanting a clean sport, then they need to prohibit TRT usage across the board. It’s just too easy for the fighter’s physician to recommend this treatment.

    According to Dr. Margaret Goodman, there are only a handful of physicians in the U.S. qualified to make a proper determination on someone needing TRT. And I’m pretty sure these are not the guys fighters are seeking out.

    I also think the UFC is only playing lip service to wanting a truly “clean” sport. So it is what it is.

  14. Jason Harris says:

    I guess the question is, why is it bad for someone to get treatment to get their body back to normal (non-elevated) human levels? I get that everyone compares this to steroids, but the whole problem with most steroids the way they are used is that guys are getting their body to superhuman testosterone levels. This is an unfair advantage. Putting someone back to normal levels is the removal of a disadvantage, but not putting them at an unfair advantage over a normal person.

    The argument in general seems to be that it’s not “natural” but where does that end?

    Is it OK that Nick Diaz had cosmetic surgery to smooth out his brow, and had the skin around his eyes replaced by cadaver skin so he won’t get cut in fights anymore? There’s nothing natural about that, and by removing that disadvantage he’s improving his performance in fighting. I didn’t see the same outcry of “If you don’t like bleeding everywhere, you shouldn’t be a fighter” that we’re seeing here for TRT.

    I can see both sides of the argument for TRT but I really don’t understand is how removing a disadvantage automatically == unfair advantage. That same argument could be used against knee/shoulder/elbow surgery, anti depressants, blood pressure medication, laser eye surgery, anything.

    Why is a medical procedure from a doctor OK 99% of the time, but not OK if it involves testosterone?

    • Zach Arnold says:

      I guess the question is, why is it bad for someone to get treatment to get their body back to normal (non-elevated) human levels? I get that everyone compares this to steroids, but the whole problem with most steroids the way they are used is that guys are getting their body to superhuman testosterone levels. This is an unfair advantage. Putting someone back to normal levels is the removal of a disadvantage, but not putting them at an unfair advantage over a normal person.

      In a sport featuring alpha male after muscular alpha male, guys all jacked up and muscular, why do so many of them need testosterone prescribed?

      The numbers are growing and Sonnen/Rampage are right — there’s tons more guys that are doing this that we don’t know about.

      Not everyone is a steroid user or extreme weight cutter but we’ve seen such behavior on display a plenty in this sport. People can no longer turn their heads about this.

      A guy juices out of his mind during training, gets the benefits of injury recovery, wrecks his endocrine system. He ends up getting a mark doctor to write a prescript for testosterone to ‘recover’ and go back to a state where aggression is regained and the side effects of steroid usage are temporarily negated.

      It’s a cycle all right — a never-ending cycle of double-dipping on the doping that is going to damage people permanently, both the users and their opponents.

      Nick Diaz getting cosmetic surgery is apples to oranges for a comparison to testosterone usage. Testosterone usage impacts the amount of physical damage one muscular man (or woman) can inflict upon another people, resulting in more concussion and impact.

      TRT itself for people who really need it is fine. But this sport featuring guys who look like greek gods who punish each other into brutality using testosterone is not safe. I don’t care about winning or losing in terms of testosterone usage, I care about whether or not someone is crippling their body and their opponents in a cage.

      • Jason Harris says:

        “In a sport featuring alpha male after muscular alpha male, guys all jacked up and muscular, why do so many of them need testosterone prescribed?”

        So you are making the assertion that the only plausible explanation for them needing treatment is their past drug abuse, and they should be denied the ability to have this treatment as penalty?

        “Testosterone usage impacts the amount of physical damage one muscular man (or woman) can inflict upon another people, resulting in more concussion and impact.”

        How does someone’s body being at normal human testosterone levels result in more concussion and impact?

        “TRT itself for people who really need it is fine”

        And why do you think that Rampage or Dan Henderson don’t really need it?

        “guys who look like greek gods”

        Really? How is this at all even a tiny factor in this discussion? Dan Henderson has always looked soft and pudgy, does he get a TRT pass, then?

        “I care about whether or not someone is crippling their body and their opponents in a cage.”

        This is a nice soundbite, but does not address how someone who’s body is at normal testosterone levels is somehow crippling themselves or placing their opponent in any more danger than they’d be in during any other fight

      • Norm says:

        “…..I care about whether or not someone is crippling their body and their opponents in a cage.”

        Dude, Zach, you are watching the wrong sport if this is concerning to you.

        If you don’t want to allow TRT/steroids, then don’t allow the proceedure Diaz and Marcus Davis had done to fix their brows. Don’t allow deviated septums to be repaired. Don’t allow lasik surgery to be completed. Don’t allow IVs after weigh-ins to rehydrate. Don’t allow Beta-alanine a latic acid buffer during training. Don’t allow creatine for ATP turnover in training. Just fight with the phenotype/genotype you were born with. Some of us have amazing genes, some of us have shit genes.

        Regulate it ALL or don’t regulate anything.

        Zach, do you ever drink coffee prior to writing one of your articles? Have you ever taken an NSAID prior to writing because you had a headache?

        • The Gaijin says:

          This is a ridiculous apples to oranges comparison. Not to mention it ignores the fact that TRT exemptions can and are highly abused and gamed, whereas Lasik and the other things you mentioned most certainly cannot.

        • Jason Harris says:

          I agree it can be abused, and those fighters should be penalized, however the fact that it can be abused should not remove the ability to use it at all.

          It seems like the way NJ did it, testing the fighter periodically and making sure they aren’t exceeding normal levels leading up to the fight and during the fight is no more damaging than any of the other beneficial procedures listed.

          The portrayal that anyone doing TRT is a huge musclebound “alpha male” that’s breaking other dudes in half is there specifically to be inflammatory and it’s silly. I mean, look at what it did for Rampage.

  15. […] Ryan Bader and that he nearly pulled out because of all his medical problems. However, he says he saw a UFC doctor who recommended he get testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) to heal so he could keep the fight […]

  16. bezzarguy says:

    Why is it so hard for people to understand that TRT is a PERFORMANCE ENHANCING DRUG?!? Kudos to Zach Arnold, that’s the definitive piece on TRT. If you have any doubts, read it again…slowly. One more thing, the fact that Rampage was juiced and STILL looked that bad, well, time to retire with what dignity he has left.

  17. AfroSamurai says:

    I really wish some high profile fighter would pull a floyd and request that vada tested their bout.

    Particularly Anderson. With Him and Sonnen fighting in Sao Paulo it would be a great time and idea to have him get tested somewhere that’s not UFC bought.

    • Jason Harris says:

      I could see Anderson doing that, he doesn’t want to fight Sonnen anymore than Mayweather wants to fight Pac.

      The problem is there isn’t a Cotto fight that Silva can line up for the easy payday

  18. […] quote via Fight Opinion from Fighter's Only Magazine 1 minute […]

  19. […] Fight Opinion’s Zack Arnold breaks down the consequences of Rampage’s admission to TRT use. […]

  20. […] Analysis of Rampage Jackson’s admission to testosterone usage | Fight Opinion […]

  21. MMA Tycoon says:

    Any time this happens it’s is pretty disappointing for anyone associated with the MMA game. Rampage isn’t one of the ones I’d have suspected.

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