Mir: Why I believe PEDs don’t help you as a fighter
Frank Mir: “So I don’t actually think there’s a PED out there that actually helps you as a fighter, to be honest with you.”
Last year USADA, the UFC’s independent drug testing service, announced that former heavyweight Frank Mir had been flagged for a potential anti-doping violation, following his fight with Mark Hunt at UFC Fight Night 85 on March 20, 2016 in Brisbane, Australia. The fighter posted a point blank denial on social media that he had knowingly used PEDs. Mir had a Therapeutic Use Exemption for Testosterone Replacement Therapy several years ago, but TRT has been discontinued in MMA since 2014.
On hisPhonebooth Fighting Podcast Mir said he had passed two random drug tests previously, and revealed that he was flagged for metabolites for Oral Turinabol.
4-Chlorodehydromethyltestosterone, also known as Oral Turinabol, Turinabol, Tbol, and Oral Tbol, is a structurally altered form of Dianabol, which itself is a derivative of testosterone. Oral Turinabol was introduced by the pharmaceutical company Jenapharm in East Germany in the 1960′s. The sole goal was to get a competitive edge for both their male and female athletes in the Olympics. It was said that the success of East German Olympians from the 60′s through the 80′s can directly be traced to Tbol use. Currently, Oral Turinabol is marketed and sold only by clandestine laboratories via the black market. There is no pharmaceutical or veterinarian production of this drug. (Source)
At that time, testing on the B-sample had not been completed.
Basically, if the ‘B’ sample comes back and I don’t see any way that I’m going to explain, sad Mir.
Then the B sample came back positive. Mir speculated that he may have failed the test due to ingesting tainted kangaroo meat in Australia.
“You put it on the food and you bulk up your livestock, and you could sell it into the stores because now you get more bang for your buck,” said Mir. “An animal that takes two years to reach maturity, you know, muscle weight, now in four months he’s bigger than he’s ever gonna be and you slaughter him. It’s a common practice.”
Unfortunately for Mir’s theory, kangaroo meat in Australia is not farmed. It is, in fact, the world’s largest consumptive mammalian wildlife industry.
Mir is now serving a two-year suspension and is as well prohibited from commenting on UFC events. He appeared recently on MMAjunkie Radio and offered further remarks on USADA and PEDs.
“I guess because of being a US citizen I feel very much innocent until proven guilty, and [USADA is] very much a guilty until proven innocent approach,” said Mir, as transcribed by Ryan Harkness for MMA Mania. “Which again, I understand. I’m not happy being on that side of it. Their only function in the world is drug testing and that’s why they have very much all the power on their side with none on the side of the athlete.
“They found a metabolite in my system. Their test showing that metabolite doesn’t necessarily mean it came from a steroid. It’s a relatively new test, it could have came from other areas. The fact that I didn’t have this steroid in my body with their own testing procedures six weeks before the fight casts a lot of doubt.”
“I guess I wait it out unless the UFC lets me go before that. Yeah I’m interested [in fighting in other places]. Bellator and World Series of Fighting. Bellator especially, the fact that they have those open contracts where they allow their guys to fight so long as they’re not a champ and compete in other areas, that’s a great thing. The UFC really wants to lock people down and not let you fight which is … if you need to make a name for yourself and you want to be out there, I guess that’s a sacrifice you have to make. But it hurts you as a martial artist and that’s what I want to do is be a good martial artist and compete in other things.
“I have a very strong interest in doing kickboxing matches because I want to test stand up just in the stand up realm. I have asked [about this] … I haven’t had a reply back. Business as usual. So when I get done with the suspension I’ll fight out my contract and move onto other places afterward.”
Mir was asked to comment on PEDs in MMA generally.
“I don’t even think it matters,” he said. “I’ve trained in gyms my whole life and meet fighters from all walks of life, and you meet that fighter that’s juiced out of his mind and he wants to compete and get there and train. And I’ve never been that impressed with them. You don’t really see it in any walks of life where the guy’s all purple and juiced up and strong … well, you look really good but they only last for about 15 to 20 seconds before they gas out. Blood pressure’s through the roof.
“So I don’t actually think there’s a PED out there that actually helps you as a fighter, to be honest with you. Not one that I’ve ever been worried about. There’s no technique in an injection. I can’t sit there and put a syringe in and now I can dodge punches … there’s no Matrix level chemicals out there that just change people as fighters.”
Frank Mir discusses suspension, wants out of…by usatodaysports