Bigfoot allowed back on TRT
“When I started managing him, he was actually lactating. He has extreme low testosterone.”
Sometimes lost in the battle over fighters receiving a Therapeutic Use Exemption for Testosterone Replacement Therapy is that some tiny number of athletes unequivocally need it for medical reasons. While many fans are cynical over Vitor Belfort’s past use of TRT, Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva is another matter.
In a 2014 interview, Silva’s manager Alex Davis explained that Silva’s case is a medical necessity.
“This is one of the guys that really have authentic technical reasons to be on TRT,” he said. “He has acromegaly. His pituitary gland overproduces GH (growth hormone) and that unbalances all his other hormones.”
“When I started managing him, he was actually lactating. He has extreme low testosterone. He has extremely low testosterone, so he has a real reason to be on TRT.”
After the UFC prohibited TRT, Silva’s performance suffered, as it has after his release by the UFC. Now, as first reported by AG Fight, Silva is back on TRT, ahead of his fight with undefeated former Bellator heavyweight champion Vitaly Minakov at Fight Nights Global, on June 2, in St. Petersburg, Russia. Fight Nights Global has okayed the treatment, as doctors established that it was a necessity.
It’s unfair for a fighter with testosterone levels at 1000 to fight a fighter with normal levels, at 400, but it’s also unfair for a fighter with normal levels to fight someone at 100, explained Davis. ‘Bigfoot’ has health issues and needs it. If he doesn’t do TRT, his levels drop to 120. In Russia, he will be able to do it and bring his levels back to normal and become a different ‘Bigfoot’. If he had the opportunity to do it in the UFC, bring his levels back to normal, his last fights would have been completely different.”
The fighter too expressed relief that he is allowed again to bring his levels up to normal.
“Thanks God I’m using it again, said Silva to Guilherme Cruz for MMA Fighting. “My life is better, way better, because my testosterone levels are back to normal. I feel with more energy in my day to day life.
“And as an athlete, my muscle fatigue decreased 90 percent between training. I can recover my body better now. It was hard for me before because I was completely tired after every training.”
As for the fight, Silva has a plan.
“I’ll go for the knockout,” he said. “Because I know that, in Russia, the decision will always go for them.”