Lost in the hubbub about a feud between mixed-martial arts fighter Jon “Bones” Jones and UFC commissioner Dana White over the cancellation of next weekend’s UFC 151 event are Jones’s startling statements about drug use in the sport.

That’s right, North America’s fastest-growing sport has a dirty little secret that could make it as dismissible as professional wrestling, and it’s called TRT: Testosterone Replacement Therapy.

As men grow older, they produce less testosterone – it’s a natural part of the aging process, along with losing hair, shrinking testicles and storing more fat. TRT gives older athletes the testosterone levels of younger athletes – essentially slowing the natural aging process and allowing older athletes to train and perform as if they were 10 years younger.

Dan Henderson, Jones’s 41-year-old opponent in UFC 151, was the first athlete to be given a therapeutic-use exemption from the Nevada State Athletic Commission in 2007. Since then, he’s been approved in a number of states, as have a number of other MMA fighters.

It’s something the 25-year-old Jones isn’t happy about, and something he railed against during a promotional call leading up to the since-cancelled event.

“I believe if you’re healthy enough to play a sport you shouldn’t take any components, enhancement drugs or testosterone,” Jones said.

“Fighters make a lot of money in their 20s and 30s. When they get in their 40s, unfortunately you’re in your 40s. You should fight the way you fight in your 40s. I don’t think you should be able to take a drug that pretty much gives you the strength of a 30-year-old again.”

TRT is legally being prescribed by physicians to reverse things like erectile dysfunction and fatigue and is used by men who have lost their testicular function to disease.

However, it is illegal in the Olympics and it’s illegal in professional baseball. Just this week two baseball players – Melky Cabrera and Bartolo Colon – were suspended for elevated levels of testosterone. Jose Canseco, who turned to testosterone therapy because the steroids he took in his pro career actually block his body from naturally creating testosterone, had to quit a comeback attempt in Mexico because of TRT.

However, UFC commissioner Dana White is OK with the use of TRT in the MMA.

“Here’s the thing about TRT. It’s absolutely, 100 per cent legal,” he said in an interview with Fox Sports in early August. “As sports medicine continues to advance, this is one of those things where every guy’s testosterone level starts to drop as they get older and this is basically sports science now where they can bring it back up to a normal level. And I think it’s great, it’s absolutely fair, it’s legal.”

Among fighters who have been granted exemptions to use TRT prior to fights are former UFC champions Frank Mir, Forrest Griffin and former No. 1 middleweight contender Chael Sonnen, whom White penciled in as the replacement in Jones’s UFC 151 championship bout and whom Jones refused to fight on only eight days notice.

It’s easy to understand why White might be willing to support the use of TRT: Because MMA’s older fighters – like Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture and Anderson Silva – have always been the biggest draws and biggest revenue-generators for the sport. Who would repeatedly pay money to see older, well-established fighters consistently getting throttled by no-name 20-year-olds? Nah, it’s better for revenues and interest in the sport if the big-name stars can stretch their careers into their late 30s or early 40s while still fighting like younger men.

However, Jones is right. Athletes should not be allowed to take any performance enhancement drugs or testosterone to improve their ability to train or to enhance their performance. It’s called cheating, and it’s dangerous to the individuals who use the drugs as well as their opponents. It also undermines the validity of their sport.

Athletes get old and retire – that’s just the sad evolution of a career. And Jones is right in asking that whomever he fights be clean and unenhanced by chemistry – his career is on the line every time he steps into the ring.

And if White doesn’t want his sport to devolve into the steroid-laced soap opera that is World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) – he’d put a stop to it as well.