UFC
UFC NEWS: Chael Sonnen discusses his case after CSAC steroid hearing (w/Penick's rebuttal)
Dec 4, 2010 - 6:01:07 PM UFC NEWS: Chael Sonnen discusses his case after CSAC steroid hearing (w/Penick's rebuttal)

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Chael Sonnen appeared with Mike Straka on Inside MMA on HDNet this Friday night to discuss his issue with the California State Athletic Commission that has him suspended until March 2, 2011. With a lot of misdirection and confusion abounding during the hearing on Thursday, Sonnen's take on the situation seems equally as confused.

"I was found not guilty on the substance issue... you used the term steroids which is a big catch-word and that’s really not fair," Sonnen said. "Now with that said, testosterone falls in the category of steroids. But that's like saying that mouthwash falls in the category of alcohol or cough syrup is alcohol. It's not exactly the same thing and it's not what we're talking about."

"One is a medicine versus an illegal substance. I was never accused or suspected of an illegal substance. That was an online rumor that was started and perpetuated and I never did anything to step in and stop it. But I was accused of taking testosterone without the proper disclosure and still to this moment I don't know what the proper disclosure they were looking for was."

Sonnen's contention, and that of his attorneys and doctor, are that he was on a prescribed regimen of testosterone for the diagnosed condition of hypogonadism. The condition caused a low level of testosterone production, and they testified to the commission that Sonnen's testosterone levels themselves, found only by a blood test, were never above normal levels under the testosterone treatment.

The urine test that showed the 16.9 T/E ratio showed the existence of administered testosterone in his system, but apparently did not prove that Sonnen's testosterone level itself was above normal levels.

So the issue, Sonnen believes, became one of disclosure and a lack of procedure with the CSAC. But he continues to contend that he felt he adequately disclosed to the commission.

"There's no other process to disclose," he said. "In the state of California, they don't have a form that needs [to be] filled out. They don't have anybody higher up to go to. They just simply use the word disclose and that's what we did; and that's not even the crux of my argument. I disclosed to them in writing over a year ago, I disclosed to them with their previous commissioner who was actually an interim commissioner between Armando Garcia and the sitting director.

"It's medicine and I received approval and then all of a sudden they pulled the carpet out from under me and said, 'geez, we didn’t know anything about it.' ... I don't understand, I mean I feel like that's very redundant to tell the boss and then state it five other times. I really don't know what to do there but they did get hung up on the fact that we didn't write it on certain forms. Well those forms... were filled out in public in public settings as opposed to private."

The issue again was one of disclosing his condition and his treatment, and Sonnen laid out what he felt they had done in 2009 prior to his bout with Yushin Okami in California to do so.

"My strongest argument is I went to them in 2009 and received approval and it wasn't simple," Sonnen said. "It wasn't just a matter of telling them and they said OK. I had to get them paperwork. We had to FAX them stuff. The doctor did that. And we were given approval. That approval is a lifetime approval. You don't have to go back and re-do it.

"I did go back to them in 2010. This time I did it by e-mail. I have an e-mail response where they tell me, 'OK.' This is after the request of five different blood tests of which... I submitted [all of them]. It was very sophisticated to get an approval this time. I then went up again to the executive director and told him face-to-face, 'this is in my system and this will show up.' We then grabbed a form and wrote it down with USADA, the testing agency, and ultimately today what I was found guilty of was not disclosing. I just told you four different ways that I disclosed and uh… you know, I'm not here to re-try this on your show but I am here to say I am a little bit confused. In hindsight, I really don't know what I could have done differently."

Sonnen's suspension is lifted as of March 2 of next year, and though he couldn't reveal what's next for him, he says he does know what's coming, saying "it’s a secret at this point."

Penick's Analysis: There are a lot of issues at hand here that Sonnen is incorrectly hinging on and spinning. For starters, this wasn't just a disclosure issue. California does have a "therapeutic use exemption" for banned substances, but there is a process to go through for that. The Commission discussed it during the hearing and they have approved fighters in the past under it. Sonnen did not go through this process.

He says "there are no forms," which is him making an unsubstantiated claim, because they do have a process to get this type of treatment approved. It's not as simple as saying, "I'm disclosing to you that I'm taking testosterone and it's going to show up." That's not good enough, and though he's claiming they went through it in 2009, they failed to show any proof of prior approval.

He said they had emails and "phone calls" giving him approval for the treatment, but the emails were from a UFC doctor and not one employed by the Commission. The CSAC did not have any records showing that they had given prior approval for the treatment, nor that they had ever received any indication that Sonnen was under this treatment in the first place.

If this was a "lifetime approval," as Sonnen contends here, he should have something in writing from the Commission stating that was the case. He provided no such document.

The other issue here, his contention that testosterone is not a steroid in the sense people are trying to make it, is simply flat out false. Testosterone is absolutely a steroid, in this case it's simply a legally prescribed steroid. The mistake being made is in thinking that all performance enhancing steroids are illegal. They're not. Many of the prevalent steroids are legal if prescribed by a physician for a medical condition, which is Sonnen's case here, but that doesn't make testosterone injections any less of a steroid treatment.

Now, what this case does present is another reason urinalysis is not an effective performance enhancing drug screen. The CSAC has Sonnen dead to rights on testing positive for a banned substance in the artificial testosterone. That's a fact. However, Sonnen's attorneys and doctor provided records claiming that Sonnen's actual testosterone levels had not tested above the normal range.

The CSAC either did not have, or could not provide, proof that his actual testosterone levels were above the normal level, which would have negated any of the disclosure arguments and TRT exceptions. Because even under a therapeutic use exemption, athletes must test within the normal levels, but it appears blood testing is necessary to determine the actual testosterone level, and the T/E ratio is not an adequate marking.

What this comes down to is Sonnen either selling his side of the story because he knows the CSAC was completely incompetent in the issue on Thursday - as evidenced by the proceedings and the manner in which they reduced his suspension - or him being legitimately ignorant of the correct procedures in this situation. Whatever the case, the CSAC let him off easy with six months, and now he's going to go right back to action with a punishment no worse than a lengthy medical suspension after a fight.