One of the most outlandish speakers in the sport of MMA, Chael Sonnen enlightened the MMA scene with a moment of truth recently on his segment of UFC Tonight. Sonnen made clear what many fans and spectators have a clouded understanding of.
Alistair Overeem was randomly tested last month along with five other heavyweights and was found to have a testosterone to epitestosterone ratio that’s out of proportion for a normal healthy male. He is scheduled to present his excuse for a level so high on April 24th.
Based on his absurdly high ratio, his missed urine test in December and his impressive physique, many have come to the conclusion that Overeem has been utilizing exogenous testosterone to improve his performance. Although utilizing steroids will cause a person’s ratio to rise, it is not the only factor that can set the hormones out of balance. Most media sources seem to have disregarded the possibility of a decreased denominator (epitestosterone) in the ratio and have assumed that it’s the numerator (testosterone) that must be high.
Sonnen points this out in his monologue in a rather sarcastic and entertaining way that many fans can appreciate. He does what media sources should have done and sticks to the facts and will not rush to condemn Overeem since proper testing has not been conducted to determine if the heavyweights testosterone actually is high.
Until we learn Overeem’s explanation and witness the results of testing that’s indicative of synthetic testosterone, we must remain responsible enough to consider all fighters innocent until proven guilty.