Hendo on Testosterone Replacement Therapy
ESPN has a nice piece on Dan Henderson’s testosterone replacement therapy. We had previously commented on how suspicious it was that Nate Marquardt and Chael Sonnen needed TRT when they were in the prime of their lives but we’re a little more sympathetic in Henderson’s case because 1. It is transparent and well-documented (unlike in Sonnen’s case) and 2. It doesn’t appear that he jacks his testosterone up way above normal levels in between fights as Nate the Great was doing.
Of course there’s also 3. He is 40 years old. While some might argue that a 40-year old guy shouldn’t necessarily have the same testosterone level as a younger guy and it’s probably natural for a guy that age to have low testosterone, it’s still much more defensible in his case.
Another thing we left out of our previous coverage is that the Nevada Commission apparently does not allow testosterone replacement therapy if it is needed due to past steroid use. We like the intent of the rule, but wonder if it will ever be possible to enforce it because the athletic commission is never really going to be able to prove anything in practice, especially with fighters coming from countries where roids aren’t illegal or aren’t tested for.
Nothing illustrates the toothlessness of this rule as much as the young fighters who are claiming to have low testosterone. Either elite cagefighters are unusually prone to low testosterone or there are some shenanigans going on here.
Who can blame them though? From 2000 to 2005, Nate Marquardt fought almost exclusively in Japan. If you knew that you were going to be locked in a cage with another man of the same weight who is not being tested for steroids, what would you do?
On the other hand, you have guys like Ubereem who put on about 40 pounds while fighting in Japan and then came back to the states to beat the holy shit out of a bunch of guys who had been fighting in the states the whole time. 
Whether or not this problem is as widespread as it has seemed lately, it’s clear the Athletic Commissions need to do more than they are currently. It’s just plain irresponsible for them to allow athletes to take prescription testosterone between fights without testing them as long as they get their levels down in time for a fight. The potential for abuse is just too great.
In a sport like cycling where a little extra strength will allow some pinhead to pedal a little faster than all the cheaters, juicing really isn’t that big of a deal. But when two big guys are locked in a cage with tiny gloves, one would like to think a little more oversight is justified. Any fighter who is on prescription testosterone should be tested randomly between fights. The way they are doing things now is just plain dangerous.