Dan Henderson happy with new anti-doping program, but 'unfortunate' TRT got banned (original) (raw)

Dan Henderson

When Dan Henderson heard the UFC was partnering with USADA for a year-round drug-testing program, it struck him as a positive development that was long overdue.

It also made him wonder if, had the UFC done this sooner, things might have worked out differently regarding the testosterone-replacement therapy that he began using in 2007, before it was effectively banned last year.

“I’ve been asking for that for a few years,” Henderson said of the recently announced anti-doping program. “They just up and got rid of TRT instead, but some people actually need it. It’s unfortunate that that’s the way it went, but I am happy that they’re cracking down now. It’s definitely taken them long enough, but I’m happy with where they’re at.”

According to Henderson, the transition off TRT hasn’t been such a difficult one for him. He might have slightly less energy now than he did when he was on TRT, he told MMAjunkie, but he feels the difference is relatively minor.

“I wasn’t really taking that much to begin with,” said Henderson, who got one last exemption for TRT for his 2014 fight against Mauricio Rua in Brazil. “I just kind of quit cold turkey.”

Still, he said, a part of him can’t help but wonder if he might have been able to continue using TRT if only a program such as the one the UFC has committed to with USADA had been instituted earlier. He suspects that it might have quelled concerns about TRT abuse if a drug-testing system was in place to monitor everybody, whether on or off the drug.

“It’s unfortunate that it came down to this,” Henderson said. “They should have just started doing the no-advance-notice drug testing randomly, and that would have cured all the problems.

“TRT being legal or not, the no-advance-notice testing would make sure no one’s abusing anything.”

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