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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Dan Henderson was one of the first fighters granted a therapeutic use exemption for testosterone replacement therapy several years ago by the Nevada Athletic Commission. As such, he's none too pleased with the commission's decision to ban therapeutic use exemptions for the therapy entirely.
"Are they going to ban insulin for diabetics and other prescribed medications that get people into normal ranges?" Henderson asked in an interview with MMAFighting.com. "Seems like they could have easily implemented random drug testing."
"I just think that they took the easy way out. Instead of trying to get rid of the bigger problem of PEDs, they banned the drugs they had already approved for athletes with chronically low testosterone levels. I would love for them to do better. Random, no advance notice drug testing."
For now, Henderson's going to concentrate on his fight with Mauricio "Shogun" Rua next month, where he'll be the final fighter granted an exemption for TRT by Brazil's MMA commission. After that, he'll figure out what to do with the new landscape against TRT.
"I'll deal with the changes after [the Shogun fight]," he said.
Penick's Analysis: Henderson's not off-base entirely here. But there's at least a major perceived difference between allowing testosterone and allowing things like insulin for diabetics. And when one of the causes for low testosterone is former PED use, it makes many uncomfortable with the idea of those fighters being granted an exemption for what is the base hormone for all anabolic steroids. The biggest issue is that random testing has to happen. Just saying "no exemptions will be allowed" doesn't actually address the issue, just pushes one piece to the side and closes one loophole. Henderson's correct that random testing has to be done to actually have a major effect on drugs in the sport.
[Dan Henderson art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_20495.shtml
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