UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz says TRT users like Forrest Griffin setting a bad example for kids

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"I think the sport has gone so far with mixed martial arts that we try to do a good example for kids and for fans in general to watch this sport of mixed martial arts. For Forrest to be able to use testosterone, you look at professional baseball, you got Barry Bonds and all the guys in baseball that were looked down upon and are now allowed into the Hall of Fame because of it. Guys in our sport are allowed to do it and I don't understand the reasoning behind it. I don't think it's showing a good light on us athletes who have worked so hard to get the sport where it is today. I don't know about the win overturned because he let them know that he was doing it, but, I don't think it's a good thing that we show our kids as athletes, you know what I mean? Setting a good example is doing the right things, and that is being drug free and showing what a person's body can really do."

-Tito Ortiz talks to TMZ (video below) and continues to speak out against TRT usage, especially when it concerns the man who just defeated him in Forrest Griffin (transcribed by BJPenn.com).

Penick's Analysis: That's another issue that doesn't get as much play when it comes to the TRT issue. Whether you want to argue it's a legal treatment and that it should be allowed, it still gives off the perception of cheating or taking advantage of a very lax system. That sense of impropriety isn't lost on those watching the sport, and it sets a very poor example in many respects for the next generation of athletes in the sport. It's an issue, even though some don't want to see it that way, and it's one that has only gained more notoriety this year. It's one that could blow up in the sport's face at some point, and it doesn't have an easy solution at this point.

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