TRT is prescribed to lessen the effects or delay the effects of male aging.
Sonnen, Henderson, Rampage,Mir, Duffee, Marquardt,Griffin and now Vitor use it off the top of my head.
Mir,Duffee,Marquardt,Griffin are some of the bigger men in their weight classes.
Frank Mir claimed to have testosterone problems after building that 30lbs of muscle in 4 months. He built the muscle because he wanted to close the weight gap VS the 265ers.
Todd Duffee is a tank and one of the biggest men in the UFC. When you see him, you immediately think of steroids. He was approved for TRT after the record setting KO in his UFC debut.
Why these guys need TRT is beyond me. If they’re bodies can’t produce proper levels, how did they get so jacked? You could make the assumption that it is all steroid related.
Correct if I’m wrong here because I’m not a doctor but when one uses steroids for an increased period of time, their body stops producing as much testosterone because it’s coming in from an unknown source. Your body will get confused and raise estrogen levels causing an imbalance. When you stop the steroid cycle, your regular testosterone doesn’t show up to play.
Marquardt refused a pre-fight blood test in 2011 even after getting his Testosterone Use Exemption. He came out later saying he was privately getting TRT. He was also cut from the UFC in 2005 for using nandrolone in his debut. After fighting Woodley, Marquardt was asked about his TRT and he said he was not on it anymore. How can you not be on it anymore if you took it in the first place because your body stopped producing correct amounts. I figured it was a life choice.
Same deal with Sonnen. It isn’t mentioned until he manhandles Silva for 4.5 rounds and hits a 7:1 test ratio. Sonnen claims if he stops taking it, he dies. This is much different than the above Marquardt statement. Same treatment, completely different outcome.
Quentin Jackson began using it before UFC 144. His quote on the subject was “I started hitting it up pretty good, I still gotta take care of my knee but I feel like a 25 year old again.”
Dan Henderson started getting Testosterone Replacement Therapy back in ’07 just before his UFC Debut. This probably is a link to male aging but I feel if you can’t compete naturally then stop competing. I do not wish championship status on Hendo because he is a fighter who has been honing his skills for 15 years and is now taking something to make him feel 25.
Vitor Belfort, who tested positive for 4-hydroxytestosterone after Pride 32, recieved a TRT exemption for the Bisping fight! BIggest Middleweight ever!
Michael Bisping has had 3 #1 contender bouts in his UFC career. All 3 were losses against TRT users; Chael Sonnen,Vitor Belfort and Dan Henderson.
For all I know, TRT affects everyone differently. It hasn’t seemed to help out Forrest Griffin in the least but as stated above,users seem to be the bigger fighters in his division.
The synthetic testosterone used for TRT can be cycled just like a steroid. You just have to come down by fight time. Sonnen and Marquardt failed to do so.
I’m calling it now. Alistair Overeem applies for a testosterone use exemption in late 2013.
That’s my 2 cents.
Heres some TRT users for you. Vitor’s is a before and after.
The MMA Invasion 