The UFC hall of famer Royce Gracie is quite a popular name for the diehard followers of MMA.
The 51 years old, ‘slender slugger’ who is in the twilight of his career has faced quite ups and down throughout his professional tenure.
Royce Gracie Tested Positive For Nandrolone After Defeating his Long Time Rival Kazushi Sakuraba At K-1 Dynamite.
One such low is his involvement in the illegal substance Nandrolone, the anabolic steroid he was found on post his triumph over the Japanese MMA Kazushi Sakuraba in USA.
While the professional fighter has always proved his fighting skills by twisting some of the plus sized opponents into knots, his positive tests for a banned substance has somehow affected his goodwill in general.
What is Nandrolone – the performance enhancing drug found in Royce Gracie’s system after beating one of his biggest competitors, Kazushi Sakuraba!
It is essential to note that the reports that were submitted by the California State Athletic Commission have been highly disapproved by the Brazilian fighter who has further expressed his shock over the reports.
But before we discuss Royce Gracie’s stance on his reports, let’s find out what Nandrolone is, and what benefits it offers to sportsmen in general.
What is Nandrolone?
Nandrolone is amongst the most sought after anabolic steroids of all times.
Be it its therapeutic effects or its performance enhancing effects, the drug can perform too efficiently and quickly than most of the steroids could.
Nandrolone was introduced in 1962 by the name Durabolin.
Much to our knowledge, it’s anabolic effects are way more stronger than its androgenic effects.
Nandrolone offers amazing medicinal benefits to us.
For example, it can act as an efficient support for people suffering from geriatric weakness, anemia, ulcers, breast cancer and muscle wasting.
Coming onto its performance enhancing effects, Nandrolone can improve protein synthesis, nitrogen retention and collagen synthesis- all that is highly favorable for the growth and strength of muscles.
What are the side effects of Nandrolone?
Owing to its strong anabolic effects, Nandrolone has the potential to cause negative effects. These could be:
- Gynecomastia and water retention
- Hair loss
- Acne
- Virilization
- Decline in good cholesterol (that can affect cardiovascular health)
- Decline in testosterone production
Why is Nandrolone banned?
Nandrolone, similar to other anabolic agents is banned under the anti-doping policies.
Besides this, it is categorized as a Schedule III controlled substance in several countries which indicate that the trade or use of Nandrolone is an offence and anyone found guilty is subjected to a sentence.
Royce Gracie’s explanation over the use of Nandrolone
As we generally get to witness the convict in a complete state of denial, we did not find Royce’s response to his reports any different.
According to him, he has never considered using anything illegal besides things that fall under the category of ‘natural’.
The fighter that has been paid a whopping amount of money for the fight added that the results are completely out of his understandings and that he is absolutely surprised.
The verdict
As expected, Gracie’s fighting license has been suspended for a brief period of time along with a penalty of $2,500.
It is interesting to note that this is the highest amount of penalty, fined for the similar charges by CSAC.
Upon the sentence, the MMA fighter has said to appeal for he claims he has never used any prohibited agent, at any point in his fighting career.
Furthermore, he is quite adamant on his stance and deems the revelation to be a clear-cut misunderstanding.
Our Expert Opinion
Our body has the tendency to produce a level of 2ng/ml of Nandrolone, but one can raise its level to 6ng/ml by working out arduously.
According to Royce Gracie’s samples, the concentration of Nandrolone found in his body was above 50 ng/ml which clearly indicates that the fighter was on the steroid.