Dan Henderson Not Considering Retirement Following TRT Ban
Despite being one of the fighters that is directly affected by the recent decision to ban therapeutic use exemptions for testosterone replacement therapy in many jurisdictions, UFC fighter Dan Henderson isn’t giving it too much thought at the moment, and for good reason. He’s got a fight to focus on.
Henderson is scheduled to rematch Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in the UFC Fight Night 38 main event on March 23 in Brazil.
He is still currently under a TUE for TRT for the fight because it was granted prior to the Brazilian MMA Athletic Commission’s decision to follow in the footsteps of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which voted unanimously to ban TUE applications.
“I’m gonna deal with the changes after this fight,” Henderson said on Friday night’s edition of Inside MMA on AXS TV. “I’m gonna focus on beating Shogun and then business as usual, go to the drawing board and figure things out after that.”
Some of the more notable fighters that have utilized TRT are now rethinking not only their approach to fighting, but their entire careers.
Vitor Belfort’s title fight with UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman was taken off the table so that he would have time to regroup and figure out a safe approach to training without the assistance of TRT, while Chael Sonnen has said he may have to rethink his career choice.
Although he’s expected to fight Wanderlei Silva on May 31, Sonnen, co-host of UFC Tonight on Fox Sports 1, said, “I’ve had to stop testosterone with the hope that we can find a new way to gain results of upping testosterone and staying at a healthy level. If it doesn’t work, I may have to stop the sport and it’s as simple as that.”
Henderson, however, doesn’t currently have any plans to stop fighting sans TRT.
“It is what it is. It’s unfortunate that it happened this way instead of conquering the problem of all the performance-enhancing drugs,” said the former UFC and Pride champion, “[But] I’m not done yet. I’m not retiring because of this.”
