Former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort has defended his use of testosterone replacement therapy, ahead of his May 18 bout with Luke Rockhold.
While use of TRT has caused wide-spread controversy, Belfort (22-10) firmly believes that it’s his skill that wins fights, rather than medically-enhanced testosterone levels.
The 36-year-old uses TRT to balance the testosterone levels, and claims to have always used the therapy in full view of the UFC, as he discussed at a press conference for UFC on FX 8.
“I have medical monitoring and the UFC also accompanies it. Never broken through anything, always acted cleanly. Do blood tests every week to equal the testosterone levels of a person my age. Many people are averse to treatment. I am not. I am in favour of people being open and fair in what they are doing.”
Former Strikeforce middleweight champion Rockhold (10-1) is currently riding a nine-fight win streak, and isn’t worried about the Brazilian’s TRT use, providing that it is within the rules. However, it has seemingly added more fuel to fire in regards to overcoming ‘The Phenom’ in his UFC debut.
Belfort, however, feels that not all aspects of TRT are being addressed, and questions much of the controversy behind it.
“Why don’t they talk about people who are on TRT and lose in the first round? TRT doesn’t win fights. Look at Chael Sonnen, he’s on TRT and he’s lost fights in the first, second rounds. That doesn’t win fights, you have to have the skills.”
Middleweight contender Michael Bisping strongly disagrees with the use of TRT in MMA on such a high scale. After recently suffering a loss to the Brazilian, he criticised his use, claiming that using the therapy can be dangerous to other fighters, and believes that the need for TRT often stems from past steroid abuse, which can cause the body to stop producing as much testosterone.
It’s not yet known exactly how much impact varying degrees of TRT can have on fighters’ performances, but some other mixed martial artists openly using TRT for medical reasons include Chael Sonnen, who was recently defeated by Jon Jones in the first round, as well as Dan Henderson, Frank Mir, and several more.
Lewis Smith
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