UFC legend Chael Sonnen recently spoke openly about his past use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).

During a recent episode of his podcast, Sonnen was asked by a fan to reveal his preferred PED stack and whether there was a specific fight where he was using more than usual.
Sonnen responded by describing what he considered the standard elite-level protocol during that era:

The ultimate stack at that time, the Lance Armstrong diet, was testosterone, growth hormone, Epogen, better known as EPO. That was the ultimate stack at one time.

When asked if there was a particular fight where he increased or decreased his usage, Sonnen explained that his routine remained consistent throughout his career:

There was no match that was more or less. It was the same amount every Monday, every Thursday.

Sonnen also reflected on how performance-enhancing protocols have evolved since his retirement:

With the new era we’re in of peptides, and peptides is something that came along just after I left, I don’t know a damn thing about them from firsthand experience.
I’m told that there are better stacks now than the Lance Armstrong diet of test, EPO, and growth.

The former title challenger was particularly skeptical about the performance-enhancing benefits of growth hormone:

Growth, by the way, is one. It’s the most expensive one, it’s probably the hardest to get, and it’s the one that you need the least.
There are even doctors that have argued in front of the testing agencies to stop testing for growth because it is not a performance enhancer.

Drawing from his own experience, Sonnen said he partly agrees with that viewpoint:

I believe that to an extent. All growth hormone ever did for me or anyone that I’ve seen is it chews up some body fat.
It’s very easy to look at somebody and know that they’re on growth hormone.

But if it doesn’t make you bigger, stronger, faster, is it helping you in sport? There’s an argument there.
In my experience, no. But for your question, it was part of my stack.

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