In an interview that to the best of my knowledge has been slept on by the MMA media, Chael Sonnen recently spoke to Dave Meltzer for an article on Yahoo! Sports. Maybe that's because Meltzer mainly focused on Chael's promo sizzle, rather than on the steak of whether his continued testosterone replacement treatment shadiness should be tolerated in the sport of MMA. Scratch that, the MMA media is largely enamoured with Chael's mouth, so I'm completely befuddled as to why his latest put downs of Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida and Michael Bisping weren't passed around for everyone to yuck up. But as I'm a bit of a curmudgeon, I'd rather dwell on Chael's admission that he plans to take testosterone for his fight with Brian Stann at UFC 136:
Sonnen ... said he would be competing on testosterone replacement therapy going forward ("Does a diabetic get to just take a break from insulin?" he asked)
Ah yes, Chael still has irreversible hypogonadism, how could I forget? The only problem is that Chael Sonnen has never actually proved he legitimately has hypogonadism by going through the rigorous medical testing that the likes of the Nevada State Athletic Commission and the California State Athletic Commission require a fighter to go through to be granted a therapeutic use exemption for testosterone. Now that he's admitted in an interview that he's going to compete on TRT at UFC 136 there should be tremendous pressure on the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations to not just rubber stamp his usage of testosterone, but to force him to undergo the comprehensive testing that he has so far avoided before giving him the privilege of a TUE. As Jack Encarnacao deftly illustrated with the case of George Hartman, the diagnosis of hypogonadism by an athlete's doctor can't be taken at face value, especially when Sonnen's personal physician was one of the comedic highlights of his first CSAC hearing:
Dr. Mark Czarnecki, D.O., Sonnen's physician, being a total embarrassment. He testified in a T-shirt while chewing gum and may have been in no condition to
performtestify. He's not an endocrinologist or a urologist, but he's undergoing some sort of life extension/anti-aging training (no, that's not a warning sign at all). When asked if he knew who "Dana" was, he answered "a high capacity...UFC...uh..." before being cut off. He didn't know of any drugs that could lower natural testosterone levels (like steroids). This was simultaneously incredibly uncomfortable and incredibly hilarious to watch.
Given that Chael seems to love overcoming adversity, I'm sure he won't mind the slight inconvenience of a going through a few medical testing hoops to prove that he's been telling the truth all along about needing testosterone to survive, just like diabetics need their insulin:
What is that quote, that obstacles are put in our way so we can show how bad we want to achieve something?" said Sonnen. "That quote easily could have been said about me. As for the height of interest, I am enjoying a level of infamy that I wouldn’t have without the past year. I am adored. I am despised. I am feared and imitated. No one sold a fight like me before I did, and now everybody is trying their hand at it. In the past year, I have become a pioneer in MMA marketing. I set the gold standard. My tactics are the playbook for all self-promoting jock straps that have joined the sport. And it’s flattering as it is embarrassing. This past year’s events have been as much a blessing as a burden.