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« | Home | »

One enemy too many: UFC testosterone narrative backfiring

By Zach Arnold | March 7, 2012

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Dana was smiling during this interview with Ariel (click picture to watch full interview), but he’s not smiling any more

On a late Monday evening, Rampage Jackson decided to cause trouble and go on a rant against UFC on Twitter. In the process, he backed the assertion of his new-found love for testosterone and that he would continue using it.

Hours later, Dana White was interviewed in New York City by Ariel Helwani. Before lashing out at Fighters Only over the Rampage Jackson interview where he supposedly made his testosterone claims, Dana attacked a writer for MMA Junkie. He accused the writer of using ‘off the record’ remarks about a Showtime executive.

The rich irony of those quotes will be savored by the end of this post.

Dana proceeded to apologize to said executive during the interview with Ariel.

“He’s not going to be sending me any [expletive] Christmas cards any time soon.”

After trashing the MMA Junkie writer, Dana was asked about Rampage’s twitter rage.

“I talked to Rampage yesterday for about an hour and a half. Before all the, before all the tweets started and, uh… you know… Rampage just lost and I think Rampage takes his losses hard, you know? We’ll see what happens, you know. I’m always on-again, off-again with him, you know, as it is anyways. Listen, I have no beef with Rampage. I don’t dislike Rampage or anything like that, you know. I just think he takes the losses really hard and he takes criticism real hard, too.”

In a softball-ish way, Dana was then asked about the validity & credibility of Rampage’s remarks to Fighters Only.

“When I talked to Rampage yesterday and Lorenzo had talked to him right after we heard that and he said none of that is true, none of that is true. He didn’t say any of that. So…”

ARIEL HELWANI: “They misquoted him?”

“Who knows, man. Who knows. Actually, where I heard about it first time was at the first press conference in Australia and I kind of got it into it a little bit with the reporter and, to be honest and you know… shed some light on Rampage’s side of it, let me tell you what — this guy was a prick. This guy was a prick. He came up to me, he was trying to put words into my mouth and I said to him, ‘I see what you’re doing here and you’re not going to play that [expletive] with me. As he was talking to me, we were talking about Testosterone Replacement Therapy and all these other things, then he came back and said, ‘well, you just said.’ I said, ‘I didn’t [expletive] said that. That is not what I said. I see what you’re doing. Don’t play this [expletive] game with me in the middle of the interview. So, for us to sit back and say, ‘oh, Rampage probably said all this stuff and the reporter, whatever,’ I deal with this guy that day… this guy’s a prick, you know, this guy was acting like he was doing some investigative work for 60 Minutes in the way that he was interviewing me and he started saying [expletive] back to me that I didn’t just [expletive] say, you know? So… you know, I think you got to look at both sides of this story because I dealt with tons of media and I’m always honest with the way that it goes down and what happens. You’ve dealt with me for yeras and many, many others have and this guy was a [expletive] weasel.”

Let’s address what Dana just claimed here, shall we?

According to Fighters Only when the interview was published on February 29th, the byline read as follows:

“Interviewed by Gary Alexander, additional reporting by John Joe O’Regan”

After Fighters Only published the interview, they then published a response from Dana White to Rampage’s supposed interviews comments. The person who questioned Dana in Sydney at the presser? Dan Herbertson, the rock-solid veteran Japanese MMA writer who was recently let go by MMA Fighting. Dan’s track record as a reporter & writer is excellent. He is tough, but fair. He’s not a sycophant but he is a friendly straight-shooter.

How solid is Dan’s track record? He is the person who interviewed Miro Mijatovic for Spike TV’s PRIDE yakuza scandal story. He interviewed Miro for over 90 minutes. Zuffa was not happy about the piece Spike aired on the scandal. How do we know this? When we released transcripts of what Miro said during the interview, we noted that Zuffa filed a DMCA claim against Spike’s video to get it taken off of Google.

So, if you haven’t already figured out by now, Dan Herbertson is not exactly embraced at Zuffa HQ’s for one (curious) reason or another. And, on top of that, Dana White muddied the waters here by claiming that Dan was the one who interviewed Rampage when, in fact, it was Gary Alexander at Fighters Only who did the interview.

Conveniently enough, there’s video online of the exchange between Dana White & Dan Herbertson from the Sydney presser. Let’s take a look at what transpired:

Remember the context here — Dan is asking Dana about Rampage’s comments since Rampage fought at the UFC Japan show and the Fighters Only interview was published on the 29th. Dan had every right to ask Dana about what the interview claimed. Dana claims that if Dan wants answers, he should be asking the athletic commissions.

Well, who was the ‘athletic commission’ overseeing regulation of the UFC Japan show? ZUFFA!

It’s UFC who allowed Rampage to fight at the show while he admittedly says on Twitter that he’s using testosterone! So, why shouldn’t Dan be asking Dana these kinds of questions?

So, that’s the initial extent of Dana’s initial ‘brush back’ to Dan Herbertson. Then, here comes Dana’s defense of Zuffa fighters who use Testosterone Replacement Therapy:

“If you take a guy who’s talented enough to be in the UFC, right? he’s talented enough to be in the UFC yet for some stupid reason this guy’s using or abusing [Performance Enhancing Drugs]. What it does is the long terms effect of this… when guys get off it, they stop producing testosterone. It [expletive] with guys mentally, physically, emotionally, it does so much damage to a professional athlete… there’s no way in hell we want guys coming in doing this stuff. The problem is, it happens. It’s happening now and what we want to try to do is stop this before it gets, you know, to a point where, you know… young guys get damaged and could have, you know, gone on and had great careers in the UFC.”

(Check the audio on the video clip so you can ensure what is written here matches with what was said.)

We’ve gone from ‘the Dana defense’ where he says he has no problem with TRT because it’s legal to a more… sympathetic… plea where he says guys who use drugs and damage their endocrine system shouldn’t be punished for being knuckleheads and instead should be given a chance to fight while using Testosterone Replacement Therapy.

I had a verbal battle a couple of months ago with Derek Suboticki on this very argument. He argued to me that guys who damaged their endocrine system in the past (either through drug usage or extreme weight cutting) should be allowed to fight in MMA using a TUE for testosterone. I, of course, completely disagreed with this premise and believe testosterone usage should be banned, period, from the sport. Plus, how on earth can your standard basic athletic commission figure out the difference between when a fighter who used steroids, say, when they’re 18 versus using them a couple of months ago? The ambiguity is way too easy to create.

Look at what happened with fighter Brandon Saling at last weekend’s Strikeforce event in Columbus, Ohio. The Ohio AC didn’t know about his criminal background. And, yet, we’re supposed to trust that commissions who can’t handle things like background checks are able to precisely manage the process of giving out Therapeutic Use Exemptions for testosterone usage like they reportedly did with fighter Bristol Marunde, the younger brother of the late World’s Strongest Man competitor Jesse Marunde?

Let’s go back to Dana’s characterization of Dan Herbertson for a second. It’s totally and utterly disgraceful that more people have not stood up for Dan in the important quarters of MMA media circles. Dan has a lot more testicular fortitude than most MMA writers and he doesn’t need any testosterone boosts to prove his courage in calling it like he sees it.

Here’s what Dan had to say about Dana’s scorched earth attack on him:

Dana White calling me a prick and a weasel for the interview I did with him on TRT. I read the Rampage quotes and asked for his response. He gave it and then what he thinks about so many guys doing TRT. White then said that a lot of people who do steroids earlier in life have lower testosterone later in life. Obviously my follow up question asked if perhaps he was implying anything about the UFC fighters on TRT. He wasn’t pleased with the q. We were talking about UFC fighters with low T, he mentioned steroid’s effects on T, I asked the logical question. It wasn’t meant to bait him but clearly Dana took it that way. Sometimes we have to play Devil’s advocate but I’m not a tabloid journo. I think most people in the industry would attest that it’s not in my character to do things unethically. I actually showed Dana the quotes.

This is what happens when you approach a bully and actually ask legitimate questions. The minute anything substantively is asked about a controversial topic, the bully deflects and goes scorched earth when they know they are boxed into a corner. The problem for Dana is that he & Lorenzo have made so many enemies in the press already that when trouble is brewing, the aggressive PR tactics backfire… like they are now right now.

The big leagues of media, politicians, and lawyers

Yesterday, Dana White and company went to New York City to have themselves a presser to push the upcoming Fox event in May with Nate Diaz vs. Jim Miller as the main event. The show, naturally, is happening in New Jersey and not New York. However, NYC’s the media capital and UFC’s got some extra lobbying to do to get MMA legislation passed in the State.

Just one problem: the testosterone issue is flaring up in the media and now the big boys in the press are starting to pay attention. A “low T” party, anyone?

The New York Daily News published one general UFC article that was a mixed bag for Zuffa. However, the real main event for the newspaper was publishing this opinion piece by Victor Conte on UFC’s testosterone issues and why the New York State Athletic Commission should take a hard look at what the current drug testing climate is.

The article by Victor Conte isn’t anything that you haven’t already read on this site. However, for a short opinion piece, it was about as perfect in laying out the Rampage testosterone controversy as one could imagine. Coming from the modern Godfather of doping, it is an extra-hard low blow to Zuffa’s political efforts. A lot of important politicians and leaders in the States will see the piece and start asking some very uncomfortable questions.

The importance of Rampage’s (supposed) comments to Fighters Only cannot be understated. Sheldon Silver and company now have a license to ask for testimony from people like Marc Ratner and maybe even Dr. Jeff Davidson about why so many MMA fighters are using testosterone and who’s writing the prescriptions.

But there’s another, more uncomfortable avenue that could really make things extremely uncomfortable for Zuffa officials — the courtroom. Zuffa filed the lawsuit against the New York District Attorney and Attorney General to try to get MMA legalized through the courts. MMA Payout:

Another interesting argument used by New York to rebut Zuffa’s contention that MMA is safer now than when the MMA Ban was enacted is that Zuffa points out to safety regulations and precautions it has enacted and only vaguely refers to other MMA organizations. As such, New York contends that there is still “‘a reasonable conceivable state of facts’ that might warrant the prohibitions of the 1997 legislation.” Basically, New York argues that while the UFC may have enacted safety changes, it cannot support its argument with facts from other organizations.

So, when it comes to arguing about the sport’s safety in court, guess what might come into play? You guessed it – drug usage amongst MMA fighters. Testosterone usage amongst big-name MMA fighters, too. If you don’t think that Rampage’s alleged assertions about his doctor that ‘works for UFC’ leading him to an age-management doctor to get a testosterone prescription won’t be fair game in court, then you have another thing coming.

The testosterone usage just become one hell of a hot potato for both the New York politicians & lawyers. This is not a battle Zuffa can win on the PR front or in the political arena. And if the dirt starts pouring out during deposition & cross-examination in the pending lawsuit…

Zuffa’s handling of Fighters Only

Look at what Dana said to Ariel about his claim of Rampage told Lorenzo Fertitta about the Fighters Only interview. He claims that Rampage said that none of what was printed in the interview was true. If that’s the case, why hasn’t the following happened:

Neither of those things has happened. Now that UFC is claiming that the whole Rampage Jackson interview was some sort of fabrication by Fighters Only, a media outlet that cooperates with UFC for yearly MMA awards, there’s only one thing for Fighters Only to do:

Release the audio or video of the Rampage Jackson interview.

Release the hounds. If you have the goods, and they better damn well have them or else Fighters Only is incredibly stupid for putting themselves in such legal jeopardy, then release the evidence now before Zuffa files a lawsuit and drags you through financial hell. Release the audio/video and destroy all doubts created by UFC.

For Dana to put UFC into this corner, he better be very confident that Fighters Only does not have the audio. If they have the audio, his credibility on the testosterone issue will be destroyed, in my opinion.

Put yourself in the shoes of a Zuffa lawyer. A media outlet publishes an interview featuring a high-profile UFC fighter. According to claims from said media outlet, the UFC fighter starts talking about testosterone usage. Then the media outlet says the fighter claimed that his ‘doctor works for the UFC’ and that the doctor allegedly told him not to fight on the UFC Japan show… but then supposedly had a change-of-heart and directed said fighter allegedly to an ‘age-management’ doctor which resulted in a prescription for testosterone.

If you are said lawyer, these are serious allegations being made. The allegations attack the fundamental credibility of the UFC… and since the UFC views itself as ‘the sport,’ are the charges not an attack on the social stigma that the sport is trying to positively build? The average person is asking to themselves how all these macho, muscular men are crying ‘hypogonadism’ and needing to use testosterone in order to be functional human beings. If everything in said interview was fabricated, I would suspect that Zuffa would have quite a case on their hands… and Fighters Only would be cease to exist after being sued into oblivion.

Which takes us back to what Rampage said last Monday night on Twitter and has said or not said publicly since the interview came out. In addition to Zuffa not publicly releasing a statement denouncing the Fighters Only interview with Rampage, Rampage has also done the following:

  1. He has not publicly denied, to the best of our knowledge, anything he said in that interview.
  2. He acknowledged that he’s using testosterone and backed up his claim that his knee is doing better since the use of testosterone.

In this game of media chicken between UFC & Fighters Only, Fighters Only holds the Ace. Release the hounds by releasing the audio/video of the Rampage interview with Gary Alexander.

What it all means

Now that Dana White has made the claim that Rampage allegedly told UFC that everything in the Fighters Only interview was ‘false,’ the MMA media that was reticent to comment on this story can now man up and come out from their shadows. However, the climate of fear is still very real and what stays in the MMA media arena often does not make it into the mainstream, big boy arena of sports writing.

This is why Victor Conte’s opinion piece in the New York Daily News is damning. If you don’t think that big boy investigative writers like the TJ Quinns or Mark Fainaru-Wadas of the world aren’t going to pay attention to the ongoing testosterone fiasco in MMA, I suspect you would be wrong on that front. The fact that the New York Daily News printed Victor Conte’s opinion piece should tell what you need to know.

(Victor’s opinion piece, within an hour of being published online by the NYDN, immediately climbed up their ‘most popular’ rankings for hits. People care.)

Now that the national media is starting to pay attention to the testosterone fiasco in MMA, it makes those in the MMA media who refused to talk about this ‘taboo’ subject look foolish & impotent. Cowardly, too, by the way. Furthermore, the same media that didn’t want to touch this story because it wasn’t a ‘real controversy’ looks horribly foolish right now because this is a real, problematic issue in Mixed Martial Arts. You can’t ignore it any more. You can’t run & hide now. The doors have been blown open. Start talking.

As for UFC, the national media focusing on testosterone usage in MMA is a lousy development for Zuffa. Now, more than ever, we’re going to see what the big boys are made of and if they’re going to continue with their dual-pronged defense of testosterone usage by fighters who don’t exactly look like the average human being.

You can bully media weaklings and get away with it, but bullying those in the media who are backed by resources is a whole different ball game — especially when it comes to the topic of Performance Enhancing Drugs. Just ask Victor Conte.

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 62 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

62 Responses to “One enemy too many: UFC testosterone narrative backfiring”

  1. Mike Lewis says:

    Dana didnt say that Fighter’s Only made up the story, he said that Rampage told him it was made up. When he was asked by Ariel if he thought it was made up he laughed and said Who knows? I am guessing he laughed because he knew it was true but didnt want to call Rampage a liar but he certainly didnt say that Fighters only made the whole thing up.

    You always seem Zach to look for scandal when it isnt there.

    I dont get it.

    • Tom says:

      Try actually reading the articles…

    • Zach Arnold says:

      Did you not read the transcript that I wrote in the article about what you just pointed out? Read carefully.

      • Mike Lewis says:

        You included it in the transcript yes but then make no mention of it in fact you go on to say things like ” Now that UFC is claiming that the whole Rampage Jackson interview was some sort of fabrication by Fighters Only”. Where does the UFC claim it’s a fabrication? Dana says that rampage told him it wasn’t true. That’s a long way from the UFC claiming its all a fabrication

  2. Jason Harris says:

    I get that we don’t have a non-Bellator event for the next month but you’re really, really, really, really scratching the bottom of the basement on this issue. I don’t care what a drug dealer who’s trying to get his name in the press now to sell energy drinks has to say.

    • edub says:

      Then why comment on the article? Do you think enough people here care about your non-opinion?

    • Chuck says:

      Yeah really man. If you don’t care, then why do you keep posting about how much you don’t care about it? If you don’t care, that’s cool man. But why harp on it? I hate to say it, but what you are doing is just shy of trolling.

  3. nottheface says:

    Great analysis Zach. I think the typical mma site commenter will be surprised to learn what kind of legs a story like this has.
    And hats off to Dan Herbertson. The man really has the biggest balls amongst our media pool.

    • Dave says:

      I consider Dan a friend and honestly, it is a joke that he is scraping for freelance gigs while guys who do and say nothing of value have good jobs.

      The fact that Dana got shook by him just shows that he is actually asking the right questions while everyone else is afraid to.

      Ed. — You notice that some MMA sites today talking about Dana’s comments re: Dan would not mention Dan by name? Dan’s suddenly a public enemy. Huh. Funny how that works.

      • nottheface says:

        As bizarre as it may seem one my biggests reasons for being sad about the decline of JMMA is that we lose some of the best reporters in the game. Herbertson and Tony Loiseleur are easily two of the best in the biz, yet they made their names on a beat no one cares about anymore.

      • Rob Maysey says:

        You don’t say. . .

        Been going on for years and years. . .

        Cowards is right–they aren’t “journalists” at all. . . they are PR.

  4. paquam says:

    Not being critical, just want to understand…what’s the scandal?

    The UFC directs an athlete to a doctor who prescribes a legal drug used safely by millions of men. The use of that drug is not banned in competition provided certain levels are met. Presumably, the fighter does not exceed those levels. The cause of a fighter’s low T is not the UFC’s concern as long as it is a demonstrated medical fact.

    I get the point about not clearing Rampage to fight, but that’s a medical issue, not a testosterone issue. I get why you’d say the commissions should review their policies for issuing TUE. I get that the UFC is the commission in Japan. But if they mimic the commission, then it seems like everyone played within the rules here. You may not like the rules, but that’s not a scandal. That’s just a protest. I don’t like how football teams use cortisone shots to let injured players back on the field. But the legal use of cortisone is not a scandal.

  5. whaledog says:

    Concussions/brain damage can also lower testosterone.

    So imagine this scenario . . . a fighter experiences low testosterone because of KOs in the cage. The same fighter then undergoes TRT therapy in order to compete, and as a consequence he suffers more blows to the head and more brain damage.

    The issues involved here touch on more than the integrity of the sport. Fighters’ lives are literally on the line.

    -Jeff

  6. EJ says:

    I’ve seen you reach before Zach but this one might be your biggest one yet. The idea that Dana or the UFC should be worried about their PR backfiring is laughable. We’ve seen this battle errupt before between the UFC and the mma media and everytime the UFC has won that won’t change.

    Not to mention that trying to tie everything together between Rampage running his mouth and talking out of his backside. To the UFC now losing in the courtroom another place where they are undefeated again is a mega reach.

    Let the politicians come if they want, because this isn’t a UFC problem this is an Athletic Commission problem. You want to rail against TRT go after them first, they are the ones who opened the box. The idea that every problem is Dana’s fault continues to be why people like you end up losing the PR battles because the everyday mma fan see through it.

    • smoogy says:

      If you think the MMA media is the only group that can run with this, you’re totally missing the point.

    • Brian says:

      “Let the politicians come if they want, because this isn’t a UFC problem this is an Athletic Commission problem.”

      You’re spouting the same fallacy that Dana was during the media scrum. In normal situations you’d be correct, but for UFC 144 there WAS NO overseeing commission. It was in Japan. So you know who acted as a commission for the event? The UFC! So, yes, this issue with Rampage is very much their problem. They sanctioned it directly.

  7. 45 Huddle says:

    With the after talk of the FX & Strikeforce shows being over…. And we still have 5 1/2 weeks left until the next UFC event….

    I would love to see the MMA websites shut down, take a vacation, and only report news on TUF/Bellator Friday’s. Give the sport a much needed break.

    Well, that’s what I am doing…. Start now…. MMA Vacation time…. minus Fridays!!

    • Rich Hansen says:

      You’ll be missed…

    • Chuck says:

      45;

      What about other MMA shows that happen in that time frame? Are you suggesting that MMA websites ignore them completely because they are either not on TV, only on HDNet, or ppv and/or internet stream?

      • 45 Huddle says:

        Oh, never ignore news. I was kind of goofing around.

        But my point is that with such a big layoff, the amount of news stories and “controversy” should be low… But that won’t stop these news sites from stewing up some BS issue….

        • Chuck says:

          If anything, 45, there should probably be more controversy and scandal than usual with less MMA being shown. Look at the NFL. The talks about the possible lockout? Before the season started. Okay, that one makes sense. But what about the New Orleans Saints “player bounties” scandal? Peyton Manning getting cut from the Colts? That stuff is happening now man, and football is over for now. The less there is to watch, the more to talk about, know what I mean?

  8. Steve4192 says:

    “Zuffa was not happy about the piece Spike aired on the scandal. How do we know this? When we released transcripts of what Miro said during the interview, we noted that Zuffa filed a DMCA claim against Spike’s video to get it taken off of Google.”

    Just because they filed a DMCA claim doesn’t mean they were unhappy with the piece. They file DMCA claims on anything related to the brands in their portfolio. It’s just standard operating procedure for them, not an indication of whether they approve or disapprove.

  9. Chris says:

    Great job Zach. And hats off to Dan Herbertson for not allowing himself to be bullied into submission.

  10. Norm says:

    Zach, it’s becoming fairly clear you have some type of unusual vindictive agenda against Zuffa/Dana White/The UFC. I’d love for you to inject as much effort in explaining your history with them as you have pumping up this “story”. Until then you’ll seemingly come off like some scorned ex-girlfriend.

    Anyone remotely familiar with Rampage Jackson’s wacky personal history knows his credibility as an articulate and intelligent representaive of MMA/UFC is sorely lacking. So I wouldn’t take his word as gospel.

    Victor Conte was at the forefront of baseball’s steroid scandal, not to mention a drug dealer/cycle advisor to many olympic athletes. Not the most comely type of individual to go after the UFC is he? Besides, he can’t be that discontent with the UFC because he has been working with atleast one UFC fighter for several years.

    This site used to be great to come to for non-typical MMA stories. Now it’s quickly becoming the TMZ of MMA. Congrats!

    • RST says:

      I hate joe silva.

    • Dave says:

      Zach either gets called a Zuffa hater or a Zuffa mouthpiece. People can’t decide which one he is. Weird.

      • nottheface says:

        He hates being a Zuffa mouthpiece?

      • Light23 says:

        I can’t understand how Zach could ever be confused as a Zuffa mouthpiece. =p

        The way I perceive Zach’s stuff, is that he’s always looking for a scandal and ends up always writing negative pieces.

        Ed. — You should have heard the things I was called during PRIDE’s implosion. I was accused legitimately by people in MMA of being on their payroll.

        • CAINtheBULL says:

          Zack does some good work but he also does have a massive octagon shaped ship on his shoulder about JMMA and Zuffa.

  11. macaroni says:

    Thanks for the great writeup. I can’t understand how so many people think the TRT in the UFC story is a non such a non-issue.

  12. jhf884 says:

    My biggest problem w/ the idea that this story has “legs” in the mainstream media, is that Victor Conte is the one doing most of the work here. This guy has, shall we say, credibility issues. Not that he hasn’t turned it around, and not that I (in fact) disagree with him–I just don’t see this getting taken seriously simply because a semi-tabloid is running a sensationalist article that is as much about who they are talking to (the BALCO guy!) as the content. Just my opinion!

  13. edub says:

    Man, the need to call a writer out on credibility and come to Zuffa’s aid astounds me sometimes.

  14. white ninja says:

    the bigger the problem – the more people want to ignore it or rationalise it

    Good work by Zach and Dan!

  15. CAINtheBULL says:

    You have yet to show that someone is doing something illegal.

    Why? Because nothing they are doing is illegal. Should commissions update test? Yes.

    You use words like “damming”. um… Zack take a breath.

    If you think people are driving too fast and it’s unsafe but it’s the legal limit, you get the law changed. The drivers are not doing anything wrong under the current law.

    You are focusing your energy on Zuffa and fighters. Your energy should be on making the commission use the better mousetrap. Not trying to make the mouse dislike cheese. The mouse is always going to like cheese. Athletes are always going to try and work the system. Promotions won’t care unless the fighters get caught. That’s just how it will always be.

    No sport will be ever be 100% clean. Just like no society will crime free. No matter how many laws you pass.

    Ed. — If Zuffa came out with a policy tomorrow saying they don’t support fighters using testosterone, it would certainly be a positive message.

    • Kyle says:

      In Japan, Zuffa *is* the commission. There’s no sanctioning body in Japan. Does anyone believe that Rampage’s prescription for TRT got the same scrutiny from Zuffa that it would have gotten from the NSAC?

    • Jonathan Snowden says:

      “If Zuffa came out with a policy tomorrow saying they don’t support fighters using testosterone, it would certainly be a positive message.”

      Why? This is the part of your crusade I don’t understand. What is the medical issue? What information powers your belief that TRT is a bad thing? Why shouldn’t professional athletes have access to the same medical and health treatments as everyone else?

      • nottheface says:

        The simple answer: because it’s a steroid and steroids are banned? Or is your argument that all kinds of steroids that are given to the general public should also be made available to fighters?

        • Jonathan Snowden says:

          Except it’s not banned. It’s allowed with a TUE. So what exactly is the issue?

          For my part, I don’t have any issue with fighters using cutting edge medical and wellness treatments like TRT.

  16. d says:

    I don’t have anything useful or interesting to say, I just felt the need to say that Dan Herbertson would be excellent if the industry weren’t full of hacks, but as it is, he’s a God damn treasure

  17. Jonathan Snowden says:

    Just from a legal perspective, it’s ludicrous to think that any sort of suit from Zuffa or Jackson or anyone involved would come this quickly, if it were coming at all.

    Defamation is a tricky game in the best case scenario. The best and most likely remedy for Zuffa or Jackson would be to simply cut off the offending media source.

    No one files a suit like that without carefully considering things, because it can backfire in a major way.

    • Mike Lewis says:

      Again, Dana didnt say that Fighters Only lied about the interview, he said that Rampage told him it wasnt true and he then laughed when he was asked if he thought it was true. The UFC has at no point claimed the interview was a fabrication so why would they file a lawsuit?

      this is getting ridiculous

  18. Megatherium says:

    I don’t know why Zach is always taking these great orgs to task. First he was burying DSE, now its ZUFFA’s turn.

    Where will it end?

    • white ninja says:

      So its not Fedor or the yakuza or even Dana – its Zach Arnold, the org destroyer LOL

      Keep up the good work Zach (and Dan) precious little quality work in MMA journalism

  19. Zach Arnold says:

    CaintheBULL said:

    Zack does some good work but he also does have a massive octagon shaped ship on his shoulder about JMMA and Zuffa.

    I spent my entire life covering the Japanese scene and also writing about what happens in the States. This kind of line (“you want everything destroyed, you aren’t a fan”) is the same tripe I heard during the PRIDE implosion.

    Am I the one who supports organized crime in the fight game? No.

    Am I the one who supports drug usage (testosterone, GH, pain killers) in the fight game? No.

    Am I the one who bullies reporters and makes death threats? No.

    Am I the one suing other people for telling the truth or for not getting my way? No.

    You can say a lot of things about me, but what you can’t say is that I’m a liar or dishonest. My track record is solid as can be.

  20. klown says:

    Ignore the haters and keep up the good work!

  21. Bob says:

    I read the article. Also took time to read the Conte article.

    Zach is furiously overreaching to try and manufacture a scandal. It’s lame and makes me a bit embarrassed to even recommend this site to anyone. Come on Zach. You overreached on what Dana said. Numerous people have mentioned it now. As far as the Conte piece, you calling it a low blow? Jesus. Get a grip. The bulk of Conte’s article addressed NY state’s higher T ratios. Calling them out. I didn’t find it that controversial, and any non-mma knowing reader would have exited the article out of boredom probably in the first minute. Again…you blowing things out of proportion, to manufacture a scandal. And one more thing, Conte,…he’s a convicted felon. A knowledgeable one on roids, but still a convicted felon.

    TRT abuse is a problem. But to try and ‘spin’ the whole thing on Dana’s hands is a reach. There are a lot of players in this storyline. You have the various state athletic commissions, as well society in a whole which makes it legal. And posts like the above one, are a bit silly.

    …and one more thought. Zach trying to play it up like Dana was abusive to reported Dan Herbertson in the above video link. Seriously? If that was abusive, ‘brushbacking’ or rude, i seriously question zach’s journalistic integrity. Have you ever watched a losing NFL coach postgame presser? Ever see Bill Cowher during his glory days? Watch some old videos then come back to us. Cowher ridiculed, HEAVILY abused reporters, and Cowher certainly wasn’t alone. Dana looks like Mother Theresa compared to them.

  22. […] Fight Opinion has strong words on TRT issues among athletes in the world’s largest MMA promotion. […]

  23. CST Joe says:

    In any athletic competition we get muddle around buzz words, and make them the definition of an action or issue. In the case of TRT, it is new to the scene (in relative terms, it is a medical treatment, and It is a performance enhancer.

    Remember that in athletics, that is the “plain language” word for all drugs that can improve an athletes, stamina, or recovery. Whether you are speaking of TRT, steroids,or blood dopping (EPO), these are all methods in which an injected or ingested substances enters the body and can enhance an athletes performance.

    If a fighter needs TRT treatment get it, but by all means, they should not be able to fight. Until such time that they can pass a clean screening and their use of the TRT can be verified as medically required by a licensing commission.

    One of my favorite fighters is in the middle of this, he needs to stop. MMA is about good clean fighting with respect…actions like these eat away at that.

  24. Manapua says:

    You can see that Dana is stumbling all over himself in trying to respond to the question. He will probably have Daniel Herbertson banned from getting into any UFC events in the future.

  25. […] Yesterday on Spike’s TRT segment, Mike Straka gave his second biggest whopper to date on the show (him claiming I work for Cage Potato was the biggest whopper) by claiming that Dana White has come out on multiple occasions against TRT usage. FALSE. As Warner Wolf would say, let’s go to the tape! […]

  26. […] Dana White’s previous response to Dan Herbertson was rather enlightening insofar as to show what the new PR strategy would be by Zuffa on the topic of testosterone usage. Here’s Dana backing up this new front-man stance: “We’ve got 375 guys under contract,” White said. “We’re doing a zillion fights a year, traveling all over the world, all these other things that we’re doing. Now, you really think that we can crack down and [expletive] chase these guys around everywhere they live all over the world and just randomly test these guys all the time?” […]

  27. post says:

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