Rothwell: Drug testing has led to more injuries
Ben Rothwell: “You hear about more injuries are becoming rampant. Of course they’re becoming rampant, because the testing has gotten better.”
This year the Nevada Athletic Commission banned use of testosterone replacement therapy, which effectively banned it for all UFC athletes. Ben Rothwell, who had been using the treatment, spoke to MMA Hour about his transition off and how he believes it has hurt his career:
I think a lot of guys resort to this stuff because of poor training,” Rothwell speculated. “They’re getting trained in the wrong ways. You hear about more injuries are becoming rampant. Of course they’re becoming rampant, because the testing has gotten better. Guys are like, ‘oh, I can’t take EPO anymore and have unlimited cardio, I’m going to have to come off this stuff.’ And all of a sudden there are all these injuries. Yeah, no kidding.
“A big day for me was the enhanced drug testing. That was when I became okay with everything. That’s when I knew I could win a title. I know I could beat anybody because these guys are going to get tested for EPO, growth hormone. Things that were really, really hard to detect before are now getting tested for. That scares the s**t out of a lot of people, I can assure you of that.”