The MMA Hour interviewed Nate Marquardt three days after being fired by the UFC when he was scratched from the main event of UFC on Versus 4 for undisclosed reasons. Marquardt explained on Tuesday that he had high levels of testosterone causing the Pennsylvania state athletic commission to suspend him.
Marquardt was recommended Hormone Replacement Therapy for low testosterone levels which caused the high levels of testosterone.
Via MMA Fighting:
Looking back, Marquardt, who cried at two different points of the interview, regrets several actions that may or may not have contributed to the problem. One thing he pointed out was that several years ago, he regularly took androstenediol, a popular supplement that was sold over-the-counter at nutrition shops until being reclassified as a steroid in 2005 and banned. Marquardt said he took the supplement for several years and wonders if it could have compromised his system and led to low testosterone production.
Payout Perspective:
It is interesting that Marquardt’s team waited three days before announcing this information. While I understand that the MMA Hour is the best forum to address these issues, there could have been another sit down interview or press conference after it was announced that he was terminated. At that point, it would make sense to get his story out prior to internet rumors. On another note, the fact that Marquardt’s camp contends they did not know he was fired until they read it on twitter is unprofessional on the part of the UFC. Marquardt is a veteran of the UFC and despite the allegations, should have been told personally.
Despite the way he was discarded, the appearance on Tuesday’s show may be an act of contrition. From all accounts Marquardt was genuinely sorry and owned up to his mistakes. Unlike Chael Sonnen, he did not attack the commission or provide an excuse. Yet, he was fired. Perhaps this self-humiliation is penance for which the UFC will grant mercy in hopes of coming back in the future.
If what he said was true he should absolutely get his job back. Also, I believed Marquardt and his manager when they said that they waited three days to disclose the reason for the failed medicals in order to get assurance from the Pennsylvania Athletic Commission that his suspension would be dropped and that he tested within the normal range on the day of the event. Seemed like Dana just reacted brashly without thinking things through, which is what he tends to do, so no real surprises.
Come on now. The guy took 3 days to come clean because he needed to get his BS story straight. He was suspended from NSAC for high testosterone in 2005. I dont believe the over the counter excuse. He knew what he was doing and we are suppposed to believe he was taking pills that elevated your test above the legal limits and didnt know it? This guy fought in Japan where there were not testing at all and failed the first time he was tested in the UFC. Now he has low Test because his ussage in the past. His doctor according to him got his levels to normal. He complaint that he needed more(steroid) because his training wasnt going as he wanted or he didnt feel well. Mayb ehe should have canciled the fight? Its an excuse! He not only spends every training camp over the limit and gets the benefits that the typical roider gets who doesnt have a BS excuse. But his levels are so high that the Story fight would have been fight #3 (Salavary,Miller, Story) where his limits still didnt come down to normal. He cheated multiple times and now due to the damage he has done illegally taking testosterone he now has a prescription to roid and he still manages to go over the limit which makes Hormone Theraphy a Performance Enhancer.
Maybe all fighters should screw their bodies up with PE’s, then get a Doc to give them to them and before the fight claim they feel sluggish. If your levels are not back to normal before the fight. Oh well, you have a doctor excuse so you will not get suspended for a year like others. Im glad they got this guy out of there. He clearly has no confidence in his skills without PEs which he has used since day 1 and even after being caught is still using.
Well, the athletic commission knew about it, the UFC knew about it, and he had fought with it 3 times, disclosing it every time, so it’s hard to argue that he was trying to hide his use of it. His performances didn’t get any better either. He’s not a cheater if the athletic commissions give him an exemption for it, as they are the ones who establish and enforce the rules. All we have to go on is what Nate and the athletic commission have said, anything else is pure, pointless conjecture.
FYI it was nandrolone in 2005, not testosterone.
What I don’t understand is if you are a professional MMA fighter, and your doctor tells you you need TRT, why not just go straight to a commission (how about NSAC, the best?), and ask them to see one of their approved doctors. If he had done this in the first place, instead of going on the treatment based on the recommendation of his own doctor, this whole situation may have been avoided. I guess my point is, if a doctor recommends ANY kind of hormone therapy, run it by the commission first, and see THEIR recommended doctor. To me, that was Nate’s dumbest mistake and I don’t see how any of these fighters aren’t smart enough to run everything of this nature by a commission. I certainly would if I were a fighter. These fighters and their agents just need to establish a running dialogue with an athletic commission and get things on record if they face any kind of abnormal health issues. Nate and his camp should’ve used a commission approved doctor as soon as they were aware he might need testosterone therapy.
How do you know it didnt help his performance. You wouldnt know because you have never seen him clean. He admited he couldnt train like he is supposed to at normal levels. No one is supposed to go over the normal levels. Especially not someone who is competing. He claims he felt over trained. I would say the same thing if i wanted the doc to give me more roids and i needed an excuse to tell the public. He needed more to take his training to another level. Thats cheating. Talk to someone who actually uses TRT. Ask them what happens when they take a little to much. You feel like a new man for a week. He was asking for more roids to gain a bigger advantage over his opponent.
I dont know why people believe everything these guys say. He was caught and took forever to script his excuse to salvage his career. Anyone really think or even expect him to admit to cheating?
You are right about the nandrolone. It wasnt Test in 2005. But now he is claiming the over the counter drug that raised his nandrolone levels is now what caused his low Test levels. He has nothing to back that claim up. There is no proof that Androstenedione causes permanent insuficient testosterone levels. Yet Nate BELIEVES it does! What does cause low levels of testosterone is long periods of Testosterone use.
I guess we will see. Some of the commissions will test his LH and FSH levels to see if his low Test was caused by PED usage or not. If it was they ussually do not grant them a license. At least in Nevada. Of course Nate’s levels have yet to be tested.
You make some good points. This whole thing is just a mess and it feels like there needs to be more concrete language and procedures established for this sort of thing by athletic commissions. It feels like, between Parisyan, Sonnen, Marquardt, Barnett, etc. there are always weird caveats and ambiguities in the process, and then you end up with situations like the Chael debacle, and now Marquardt. These fighters are messing up, for sure, but the sloppy framework that this all occurs in needs to change. Commissions should clearly define everything, and then be more rigid when handing down punishments.
I think the UFC and Dana White made the right choice here. Nate had way to many chances. I actually like Nate but for one person of the very few caught to have so much problem with the limits the commission set is unbelievable. Everyone who is caugth should not get the death penalty and lose their job. But this wasnt Nates first time and i dont see why others are lumped in with him.
What i do think needs to happen is year around random testing of all fighters in the UFC. Stamp this out at the pro level. When the UFC or NSAC can show up at your door at any time almost noone would even try to cheat. Of course some would but they would be caught. Until then it doesn’t take a genius to end a 6 week cycle 10 days or so before your fight. Currently there is an unspoken rule that you can roid all you want as long as your clean by fight time. That is why all the top fighters are using something. Anyone who thinks they are not are gullible.
Look at it this way. The Commissions have tried to stop weight cutting many times. They realize they cant. Since they cant stop you. Now everyone cuts weight. Athletes will do whatever they can to get an advantage or take away someone elses advantage. So if the commission cant/isnt stopping people from roiding then its silly to assume the fighters will police themselves. Like Baseball, some did it to cheat. The rest had to cheat to level the playing field.