Overeem declares he will return after ban
Dutchman to miss rest of 2012 after failed drug test
Ultimate Fighting Championship star Alistair Overeem will be sidelined for the rest of 2012 after the Nevada State Athletic Commission ruled him ineligible to reapply for licensing until Dec. 27, following a failed drug test.
The denial of a licence Tuesday came after Overeem failed the random drug test on March 27 in Las Vegas, where he was promoting his then-scheduled UFC 146 main event against heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos.
Overeem’s testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio was 14-to-1, well above the 6-to-1 limit in Nevada. The NSAC could have made Overeem’s waiting period a full year, but gave him the benefit of the doubt and shortened it to nine months from the day of the test, meaning he can apply again Dec. 27.
During Tuesday’s hearing before the NSAC, Overeem testified under oath that he never knowingly took any performance-enhancing substances. He said he had been given an anti-inflammatory shot for a rib injury. The shot, unbeknownst to him, contained testosterone, said Overeem.
Dr. Hector Molina, who Overeem said he learned of through veteran fighter Tra Telligman, testified at the hearing that he had prescribed a shot for Overeem in January, but said he could not remember if he told Overeem the drug cocktail contained testosterone. Overeem said he also injected a second shot of the same cocktail in Las Vegas under the doctor’s guidance, just days before the random drug test took place.
Overeem said he had not told Molina that he was facing the prospect of random drug tests under a conditional licence he received last year. The lack of communication or knowledge of what a doctor was injecting Overeem with surprised NSAC commissioner Pat Lundvall, who described Overeem “as someone who is very intelligent.”
Overeem told the NSAC that a UFC title would be the highlight of his career, and that he’ll take a step back, pass future drug tests and “prove myself that I’m a clean fighter.”
Overeem’s lawyer Tuesday had initially requested a 45-to-60 day continuance, which the NSAC denied.
The Dutch heavyweight made his UFC debut in December, beating former champion Brock Lesnar at UFC 141 in Las Vegas. The time leading up to that event was controversial, though.
Overeem missed a drug test in Nevada, saying he had flown back to the Netherlands to be with his sick mother. A pair of drug tests conducted in Europe were then mishandled until he eventually submitted a sample to an accredited lab. He passed that test, along with a subsequent test in Nevada prior to UFC 141, and was granted a conditional licence. Among the conditions of that licence, he would be subjected to random tests throughout 2012.
When he was in Vegas to promote UFC 146, the NSAC scheduled a drug test for him and five other fighters on the card. Dos Santos, Frank Mir, Cain Velasquez, Roy Nelson and Antonio Silva all passed their tests.
UFC president Dana White announced last weekend that Overeem had been pulled from the UFC 146 card and replaced in the title fight by Mir.