Mark Munoz: "Anything that’s synthetic that you put in your body is cheating."

Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) has been a hot button topic over the past few months after Quinton Jackson admitted using it before a bout with Ryan Bader and most recently in relation to Alistair Overeem, the #1 heavyweight contender whose sample showed more than twice the allowable limit in his system. Other fighters from Chael Sonnen to Dan Henderson to others have preached the benefits of TRT while pointing to the legality involved based on it being prescription-oriented.

One competitor who will never use testosterone or any other chemical means of improving his performance is Mark Munoz, a UFC middleweight who is a win away from earning a shot at the divisional title. In fact, Munoz feels anyone who decides to go the route some of his peers have taken is traveling down a dark path.

“I think anything that’s synthetic that you put in your body is cheating,” said Munoz in a conversation on the topic with MMAInterviews. “That stuff jacks you up when you’re done…I’m a family man, I have kids, I have a wife and I want to be there for them at the end. I think when you take PEDs or anything like that, it cuts your life short.”

“When it becomes like that, it’s almost hedonistic. It’s not a sport anymore. It becomes more than a sport and it shouldn’t be like that,” added Munoz on those who abuse substances like testosterone. “There’s more important things in your life than that….I can stand in front of you 100-percent saying that I’ve never taken a drug in my life. And I’m going to keep doing that, and I’m going to win like that.”

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Munoz is currently on the shelf healing up from elbow surgery but expects to be back in late summer when he will likely face Chris Weidman, a rumored opponent he essentially confirmed when recently asked about it.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC