New York Fight Scene

Author: Dr. Dewin Nandralone

NYFS Charter, Exception 5: A New York Fight Scene writer may publish an article concerning a non-NY-based/born fighter if: (a) said fighter is involved in a steroid-related incident; (b) said writer is a steroid “expert”; and (c) said writer resides in New York State.

Glad that worked out, now:

After serving a 35 day jail sentence in May for a probation violation, which resulted in the postponement of his June 7th fight with Michael “The Count” Bisping, you would think that Chris “The Crippler” Leben would have been on his best behavior leading up to the re-scheduled October 18th battle with Bisping at UFC 89. Instead, it appears that “The Crippler” made another, in a series of stupendous decisions, by obtaining the steroid stanozolol (often referred to as winstrol or winny) and using it in his preparation for his middleweight fight with Bisping. Setting aside the fact that using anabolic steroids is considered cheating and a violation of the UFC’s drug policy, Leben’s time in jail was clearly not a deterrent in his decision to procure and possess a controlled substance.

Brief chemistry lesson: stanozolol can be found in both an oral and an injectible version. The injectible version is water-based and therefore has a very short half-life, requiring users to administer the substance on a daily or every other day basis. The oral version usually comes in tablets ranging from 5mg to 50mg and must be taken every day, often several times a day. The unique thing about this steroid is that even the injectible version of stanozolol is methylated or C-17 alpha alkylated, which means that it is chemically modified at the 17th carbon position on its nucleus. This chemical modification protects the drug from being deactivated by the liver so it can survive first pass metabolism and be effective orally.

While we don’t know for sure which version of stanozolol was used by Leben, we do know that the UFC administered the drug test following his October 18th loss to Bisping. Reportedly, by Leben’s own admission, he took the drug but thought it would have cleared his system in time for the fight. Since the injectible version of stanozolol is reported to have a two month detection time, versus the oral version which is reported to have a three week detection time, it is safe to assume that Leben was using the oral version. Based on his admitted contention that the substance would have cleared his system prior to October 18th, it is also safe to assume that he had stopped using it somewhere around three or four weeks prior to the fight.

Now here is something you probably won’t read on any other MMA blog: assuming Leben used stanozolol for at least several weeks (judging by his physical transformation, that is probably safe to assume), Leben’s natural testosterone production was likely suppressed fairly significantly.

Brief chemistry lesson: when exogenous (outside the body) hormones are introduced into your body, your hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular (gonadal)-axis (HPTA) can become suppressed, which means that your body senses the presence of an exogenous hormone and decides that it no longer needs to manufacture the endogenous (within or inside the body) hormone testosterone.

As I was saying, the stanozolol likely suppressed his HPTA, resulting in little, if any, natural testosterone production. This is not really a problem until one stops using the exogenous hormones. At that point, your natural testosterone is suppressed, which can take weeks to months to return to normal. Steroid users will often administer ancillary drugs such as human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), clomiphene citrate (clomid), tamoxifen citrate (nolvadex), etc. to speed up this process. These drugs are also on the banned substances list of most sports bodies and are often tested for along with anabolic steroids. Since Leben did not test positive for any of these substances, which themselves can have detection times up to three weeks, it is unlikely that he took any of these substances. This means that by the time UFC 89 rolled around, despite looking his best ever, Leben may have been sporting the testosterone levels of an 80-year-old man.

Hold that thought…anabolic steroids such as stanozolol, exert part of their anabolic (muscle building) effect by increasing the rate of protein synthesis and by decreasing levels of cortisol, a “catabolic” hormone that can have the affect of breaking down muscle tissue. The problem is, when anabolic steroid use ceases, cortisol will temporarily rebound, sometimes to higher levels than before the steroid cycle began. Low testosterone coupled with high cortisol is a recipe for not being at your best. In fact, low testosterone can make you feel sluggish and weak.

This author is of the opinion, and I emphasize that this is only my opinion and is based on inferences I have drawn from what has already been reported regarding Leben’s positive drug test, that Chris Leben actually may have done himself more harm than good in using so-called “performance enhancing drugs” leading up to his fight with Michael Bisping. So in addition to the embarrassment, the suspension and the monetary fine, Leben actually may have sabotaged his own ability to be at his best the day of the fight. For Leben, Winny was definitely a big loser.