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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
"If your body says it's time to stop [fighting], it's time to stop. You shouldn't be able to hit a reset button and go back and act like you're 25 when you're 39. I think people that do it, supposedly if you do it in moderation, if you have a doctor monitor it, if you look at your levels and they're low and he brings you to 4 to 1 or whatever the ratio is that's deemed acceptable -- but nobody's doing that. Everybody's jacking [the ratio] up to 16 to 1 and training like a madman during training camp, every session, every training, sparring, running, and they're just going nuts, and then they bring themselves down slowly, but they've already had six to eight weeks to train like that. You think they're going to be in better shape? You think they're going to be stronger? They've had better rounds. They've had longer rounds and been able to endure more. If you think about as far as the competitive advantage, it's definitely there.
If we're going to complain about it, they need to regulate it differently. You can't exempt some people. You can't give it out. You can't have certain states do it. Like when I fought Nate Marquardt or when he was quote-unquote using TRT, he was a different fighter. I believe when he was fighting Tarec [Saffiedine], when he was fighting Jake Ellenberger, he wasn't on it and you can tell the difference. I think that's a gray area. For myself personally, I don't really place judgment on others. I just think that I don't need it."
-UFC 161's Tyron Woodley discusses testosterone replacement therapy and what he sees as its abuse in mixed martial arts in an interview with Sherdog.com.
Penick's Analysis: Woodley hits on the biggest issue with testosterone replacement therapy being allowed right now, in that the lack of legitimate oversight on its use allows for abuse. The thing that goes under-realized when it comes to PEDs is that it's not about being jacked up on something come fight night. It's about how PEDs allow an athlete to train harder, longer, faster, stronger, etc., so that they reap the benefits of that added training during competition. They are able to work harder on PEDs in training to give themselves an edge when it's time to compete. And without random blood testing during training camp multiple times to check on the levels of fighters using TRT, the assumption will continue to be that those using are abusing the system.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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