Sonnen: ‘I dont know anybody that thinks I was on steroids’
Mike Straka: Pople think you’re on steroids. How are you going to deal with this? Chael Sonnen: I don’t plan…
Mike Straka: Pople think you’re on steroids. How are you going to deal with this?
Chael Sonnen: I don’t plan to deal with it at all. I don’t know really anybody that thinks I was on steroids. Aand if they do, I wouldn’t offer an explanation, or an apology, the facts were the facts and that’s it, that’s between me and the commission and we dealt with it.
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“I was found not guilty on the substance issue, you used the term steroids which is a big catch-word and that’s really not fair. Now with that said, testosterone falls in the category of steroids. But that’s like saying that mouthwash falls in the category of alcohol or cough syrup is alcohol. It’s not exactly the same thing and it’s not what we’re talking about. One is a medicine versus an illegal substance. I was never accused or suspected of an illegal substance.
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“I am not a victim here. I am not a martyr in any way and I appreciate the overwhelming support that’s coming in, but the rules are the rules and if I broke the rules then I should be punished. There should be, you know, I believe in commissions and I believe in regulation and that’s not only good for the athletes but it’s good for the industry. The UFC will not go to a municipality that doesn’t have a governing body. So… I’m in support of that and they did not abuse me or mistreat me. They gave me a fair shake and, you know, that’s just the truth. I don’t like it and I don’t like it because I don’t understand it. I don’t have any better clarity today on what it is that they’re looking for than I had yesterday or several months ago.They internally did not offer any suggestions.
“They themselves were a little bit confused on this issue as well. I thought because they were confused, out of sportsmanship they should have given me the benefit of the doubt. They should have made the leap that if I’m going to go right up to the commissioner and tell him, right up to the executive director, face-to-face, and tell him that that is my attempt to disclose and, Mike, that is not my strongest argument.
My strongest argument is I went to them in 2009 and received approval and it wasn’t simple. It wasn’t just a matter of telling them and they said OK. I had to get them paperwork. We had to FAX them stuff. The doctor did that. And we were given approval. That approval is a lifetime approval. You don’t have to go back and re-do it. I work with the Oregon state commission. I know that we’re undermanned and overworked, so with that in mind I did go back to them in 2010. This time I did it by e-mail. I have an e-mail response where they tell me, OK. This is after the request of five different blood tests of which all I submitted. It was very sophisticated to get an approval this time. That’s not my only argument.”
“I’m not here to re-try this on your show but I am here to say I am a little bit confused. In hindsight, I really don’t know what I could have done differently.