UFC heavyweight Alistair Overeem says he'll be back fighting in December

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

UFC Heavyweight Alistair Overeem was denied a license for nine months by the Nevada State Athletic Commission earlier this year after a random drug test revealed an elevated testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio, indicative of synthetic testosterone use. Overeem would reveal that he received a mixed "cocktail" of drugs from a doctor that he claimed was to treat a lingering injury, and that the mixture contained testosterone.

During a disciplinary hearing with the NSAC, Overeem feigned ignorance as to what was in the drug he was being given, and claimed that he didn't know there was testosterone in the mixture. Ultimately, as he was not licensed by the Commission at the time, he could not be suspended. However, they did deny him a license to fight last month, an expected outcome which led UFC officials to pull him from his fight with Junior dos Santos at UFC 146.

The NSAC opted to retroactively begin his license denial not from the date of application, but from the date of his failed test, and reduced the amount of time he had to wait before he could apply again from one year to nine months. That will take him to December 27, yet Overeem says he's planning on being back by that month.

"I'll be fighting again in December," Overeem wrote in his return to Twitter on Monday. "[And] mark my words, I'll be back to get the belt sooner rather [than] later."

The UFC typically runs a year-end event in Las Vegas, with this year's likely date falling on December 29, making that the only possible date for Overeem to fight in 2012.

Penick's Analysis: He won't be fighting in December, just to be clear. He can't even apply for a license until two days before that event, and because he's been denied a license for this testosterone issue, he's likely going to have to appear once again before the commission before they sign off on a license. It's the process Josh Barnett was supposed to go through with the California State Athletic Commission after testing positive in 2009 for steroids, but he failed to appear or have adequate representation at several hearings to appeal or apply for a new license. For Overeem, it probably won't be difficult to get a license approved the way the NSAC handled his last appearance, but it will take more than two days, and the UFC won't book him on that card when he can't apply for a license in advance.

[Alistair Overeem art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_13632.shtml

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