Conte scoffs at the notion that there is a large percentage of mixed martial arts fighters and boxers who genuinely need testosterone replacement therapy, or TRT, for legitimate medical reasons. He believes they’ve simply discovered a way to increase their testosterone levels without failing a postfight drug screening.
“This is just another way to circumvent the rules,” Conte said of TRT usage in MMA and boxing, which entered the headlines last month when Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight Nate Marquardt revealed he had fought three times while on testosterone replacement therapy. “That’s all it is.”
Former UFC welterweight contender Frank Trigg said in an interview with Yahoo! Sports that fighters will test boundaries in order to gain some sort of advantage. And he believes that’s exactly what is happening with the increasing number of fighters seeking therapeutic-use exemptions for TRT.
“There is a loophole that exists and guys are taking advantage of it,” Trigg said. “Guys are going to take advantage of whatever they can. If you said to me, ‘Hey, you’ll have to cut off your little finger and your little toe and give up three years of your life, but you’ll win the title and make two successful defenses,’ you know what I would say? ‘At what time tonight do I have to show up for the surgery?’
“We don’t care about the long-term impact or how it’s going to feel 20 years from now. We’re worried about now. And a loophole has been created and, absolutely, guys are taking advantage of it.”
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