The UFC announced earlier this week at its Fighter Summit that it would provide UFC and Strikeforce fighters a formal policy concerning Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) and other banned substances.
Via UFC press release:
Lawrence Epstein, the company’s Executive Vice-President and General Counsel, explained the written policy is a continuation of existing policy, and that both promotions will follow guidelines drafted by the same law firm which advises the National Football League on PEDs.
Epstein said: “It is important to continue educating our athletes on the dangers of PEDs and other banned substances. Additionally, no new UFC or STRIKEFORCE promotional agreement will become effective before the athlete has provided a clean PED test result.”
He added: “PED and banned substance usage harms the integrity of sport, potentially compromises the safety of our athletes, raises concerns for both short and long-term health issues and sends an improper message to our fanbase. We will continue to be at the forefront of this issue. And we will continue to work with Athletic Commissions and other bodies to ensure – to the fullest extent possible – that testing procedure keep pace with scientific advancements regarding the identification and detection of prohibited substances.”
The promotions’ medical consultant Dr. Jeff Davidson then spoke to the athletes about both the short and long-term medical effects of PEDs. Dr. Davidson discussed the topical Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) and Keith Kizer – the Executive Director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission – detailed the laws and regulations pertaining to PEDs and TRT.
Payout Perspective:
Announcing that the law firm that is drafting the PED policy is the same firm that advises the NFL on PEDs lends credibility to its efforts that it is attempting to address the issue of PEDs in its sports. But, if you think that the NFL is not addressing its PED problem, then you may take issue. Zuffa had to address the PED issue considering the number of incidents that have come up in the past couple years. It will be interesting to see if the policy addresses the TRT issue and Nevada’s policy of allowing therapeutic use exemptions for fighters. As we’ve read, Forrest Griffin became the sixth fighter to obtain a TUE exemption. With Keith Kizer advising the fighters on the rules and regulations of TRT, will more fighters seek the exemption?
Topical TRT? I always envisioned an injection.
Strategically, to the fringe fan, this is a good move. It shows concern for the issue of PED’s above and beyond standard state commission testing. Fans that follow this stuff hardcore will know that this isn’t nearly the degree of testing that should be occuring but once most people hear a tie-in with the NFL they’ll be far less likely to push the issue any further. The NFL is teflon in the eyes of many.
TRT is quickly becoming the new normal for athletes. If you’re in your 30s and you’re not on TRT you’re either as skilled as Anderson Silva, or not winning.
I think TRT is just used to mask steroid use and create an out if caught. Testosterone is the least effective of all the major roids. Going off the roids t get them out of your system causes your test levels to drop. Which means stopping your cycle much earlier for the roids to leave your system and for test levels to level out at normal so there is no red flags. With TRT you would in theory be able to cycle closer to the fight(higher dose and longer cycle). You could cut out the time of waiting for levels to raise back to normal. That time is estimated to take the same amount of time as the length of your cycle. So TRT would allow a fighter to use PE’s many weeks closer to the fight. Not that all of them are doing this but i believe most are.
Of course you dont need to be on TRT to use PE’s. I believe most fighters are using them. They have been long before TRT come around. Something big in my old gym was HGH. Even among fighters who are very well known in MMA and you would least expect it. But to be honest is there really anyone not using HGH? They cant detect in the tests. It is extremely effective. We know what happens when there is nothing to prevent someone from taking an advantage. we saw it in baseball. Taking HGH is a no brainer. Other things require a little more homework for the fighter and there is a little more risk. But the PE industry is so advanced they know how to beat almost any test. They know exactly how long each drug stays in the body.
Unfortunately as long as fans are clueless about PE’s the problem wont go away. Tests are a joke but it keeps the majority quit. They accept any half hearted attempt to “catch” cheaters because they are uneducated and are not qualified to discredit the testings. But most of all the fans dont want to believe the fighters are using. Baseball didnt even test and the experts were claiming almost no one uses roids because it wont help you in baseball. Then when a big hitter was caught they would claim pitchers dont use the stuff. They dont want muscle. Then all the top pitchers were caught. They didnt want to believe their beloved sport and athletes were all cheating. MMA fans are the same way. They want to assume everything is just fine. Their favorite fighters coming up clean after each fight makes them feel good inside. But that doesnt mean he isnt cheating. Im not so sure fans want 100% clean fighters. To be honest we dont know how fun it would be to watch clean fighters fight. We might not get the huge KO’s that can come at any time verses anyone. We might get a endless night of pillow fights. #1 reason why fighters claim they used PE’s is to train harder. The human body isnt able to train 6 hours a day 5 days a week and not break down. This is what Steroids fix. What cardio does a fighter who is only getting 2 hours every other day of training? We really dont have any idea what sport we are left with. Fighters have been using roids since the first days of the UFC. Baseball knows what happens when its clean. Its been around 100 years before steroids. Now they got the old days of baseball back where there are no home runs and every game is a pitching battled and the mainstream fans are now long gone that were brought by the Home runs chase.
If clean MMA changes the sport as drastic as it did baseball. I think it would kill MMA completely. It couldnt keep a tv audience and would find it hard to even get on tv period. Interesting to think about those possibilities.