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[Cat--Smasher]

Tom Watson calls out TRT users after UFC on FUEL TV 7, wants to fight 'cheats' | News

Watson stopped Nedkov with a second-round TKO after a back-and-forth fight that earned both men $50,000 for "Fight of the Night" and another big check for Watson as a double bonus winner for "Knockout of the Night." Then he got on the microphone and challenged any fighter who is a testosterone replacement therapy recipient or using performance-enhancing drugs.

At the post-event news conference, he expanded on his stance.

"People can disagree with me all they want," Watson said. "I'm in the industry. I fight, and I see it. I don't know if it's me, but I look at guys and you can see which guys are on it. It's a problem that we're trying to deal with. That's why I said if you want to do it, you can't put it into your chin, and you certainly can't put it into your heart.

"That's the type of fighter I am – I've got a big heart. If you want to take drugs and you want to be a cheat, let me fight you and let's see what happens."

Moments later, his boss, UFC President Dana White, clarified his own stance on TRT and fighters in the UFC who are granted therapeutic-use exemptions in order to get a boost. Because TRT use is allowed by the athletic commissions as long as fighters test within the testosterone-to-epitestosterone ranges they've pre-set (Nevada, for example, is 6-to-1, though other states are as low as 4-to-1, which is the Olympic standard), White had previously been on board with fighters using it, provided they went through the proper channels.

But lately, White said, he believes fighters are not taking it to stay within the allowed limits. He believes they're over-using it during training camp, then scaling back right before their fights to test within the allowable limit.

Then he said his plan was for the UFC to start testing fighters who are granted TUEs throughout their training camps to make sure they're not just under the allowable T-to-E limit when they're tested fight night, but throughout the duration of their camp.

"Everyone figures out a way to take a great thing and cheat and make it bad," White said. "I think from what I've seen over the last year, I've seen situations where ... what I believe guys are doing is jacking this stuff up through the roof through their entire training camp and getting back down to normal levels right before the fight – which is cheating. I hate it. I don't like it, and I'm going to fight it.

"And if you are using TRT in the UFC, we're going to start testing the s--- out of you through your entire camp. These guys that get exemptions for TRT, we're going to make sure we test them through their entire camp."

Count Watson as a supporter of that early plan, no doubt, though White didn't outline when such a UFC policy might start or just how it would be implemented.

The reality is, with his first UFC win under his belt, sure, he'd love to fight a known TRT user. But he'll fight anyone.

As for a potential bout with former Bellator champ Hector Lombard, Watson said there's no beef with him from a previous callout before he was in the UFC.

"In the past, I called him out because we were both outside the UFC and he was the biggest name outside the UFC," he said. "I don't have an issue with him. I think he's a beast. I think he's really impressive, and I think he's further up the middleweight division than me right now.

"But I don't care. Whatever Joe Silva says, I'll do it. It really makes no difference for me."

[Uvall]

I would like to see this happen as well.

[The Donosaur]

I wonder what his excuse would be when he loses?