Adam “Warhammer” Hunter is a middleweight mixed martial arts (MMA) athlete who had an extremely short-lived stint with UFC. The UFC fired him the day after he tested positive for 5 different banned substances prohibited under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy. Hunter finally decided to tell his “side of the story” during a recent interview with freelance MMA journalist James Lynch.
In a 6-minute rambling response, Hunter attempted to defend himself in an illogical and practically incoherent manner during the interview with Lynch on the Parting Shot Podcast on August 20, 2018. Hunter really should have just kept quiet.
Hunter explained that clenbuterol is prescribed for ADD, testosterone can produce metabolites of various other steroids, metabolites are like the dead skins cells produced when a snake sheds its skin, and other nonsensical excuses for his failed drug test.
“I’d like to kind of, you know, clarify my side of the story. Yeah, a few things like you know… When it first came out it was it seemed like everything was kind of like doctored up to make it look like it was this huge like, you know, massive steroid user and you know and that’s really just not the case you know.”
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) reported that Hunter tested positive for metabolites of the following prohibited substances: Equipoise (boldenone), Masteron (drostanolone), Dianabol (methandienone), Clenbuterol and Nolvadex (tamoxifen).
Hunter seemed to suggest that USADA fabricated the report. At the very least, Hunter did his best to downplay the seriousness of using so many different banned substances.
Hunter also refused to admit that he used any of the three steroids – Equipoise, Masteron and Dianabol – found in his urine sample. Instead, Hunter admitted using testosterone, an anabolic steroid that was not found by USADA.
At one point, Hunter claimed he became sick after a massive weight loss of 38 pounds over a 2-1/2 week period in order to make weight for a bout. Hunter was referred to a specialist. But rather than wait several months for an appointment, he took the advice of a friend who told him the specialist would prescribe testosterone. Hunter said he self-medicated with therapeutic dosages of testosterone. That was the only steroid he claimed to have used.
When Hunter received a surprise call from the UFC offering him a contract, he had already discontinued the testosterone for two months. He was not worried about testing positive (even though he should have been). Hunter was selected for an anti-doping test less than a week after he signed a six-month UFC contract.
Hunter pointed out that he only tested positive for “trace amounts of metabolites”. He then conjured up the strangest explanation of metabolites ever offered. Metabolites are like dead snake skin cells!
“I was being tested and it came back with with trace amounts of metabolites,” Hunter said. “Now I’m not sure if you’re familiar with what a metabolite is but I definitely wasn’t at the time. And so it’s been explained to me since that a metabolite is like the dead skin of a cell essentially as how it was described. So it’d be like a snake shedding its skin. So that was like all that was there. And even then it was only trace amounts.”
Hunter insisted that he did nothing wrong because he had no idea he would end up signing a contract with the UFC and become subject to the rules of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy. His use of steroids was legal because the possession of steroids for personal use is legally permitted in Canada. (And presumably, there were no anti-doping rules preventing him from using steroids at the MMA promotions where he previously fought e.g. Elite 1 MMA and Gladiators of the Cage MMA, Extreme Cage Combat MMA).
“I basically said, ‘like guys, it’s not like I’ve been with you guys for a while and all of a sudden now you found this. It’s like, you know, you called me and like less than two weeks later you’re testing me and there’s like trace amounts [of] these metabolites of something that that was perfectly legal at the time.’”
And then there is Hunter explaining the alleged therapeutic uses of clenbuterol.
“Clenbuterol … was something for focus because like it’s generally prescribed for for people with ADD,” Hunter asserted.
But clenbuterol has never been prescribed for attention deficit disorder (ADD). It is a beta-2 adrenergic agonist that is always prescribed for asthma-related conditions. It is used off-label by bodybuilders as a fat loss agent.
Hunter did admit the he should have read the fine print of the UFC contact.
Meanwhile, journalist and podcast Lynch looked either bored out his mind or utterly flabbergasted by Hunter’s rambling explanation.
“There’s a lot to unpack with what you said there,” Lynch responded.
Adam Hunter Accepts Disqualification of Results for Violating Period of Ineligibility under the UFC Anti-Doping Program https://t.co/fp0yXXuH7B pic.twitter.com/hlcRbSy3Fr
— USADA | UFC Anti-Doping Program (@USADA_UFC) September 26, 2018