Alistair Overeem's manager confident his client will fight at UFC 146
Posted on April 17, 2012, 10:44 AM by Mike Drahota
The soap opera of UFC 146's main event continued yesterday with an interview involving Alistair Overeem's manager Glenn Robinson. Robinson seemed confident that Overeem would indeed be involved in the Heavyweight championship bout on May 26 in Las Vegas. His words sought to explain exactly how Overeem's failed drug test would be clarified, in the sense he allegedly did not test positive for elevated levels of Testosterone, but rather only an irregularity in Testosterone to Epitestosterone levels. Overeem's levels in this regard registered at a lofty 14:1. Seeking to clear the name of his star fighter, Robinson relayed the following through Kenny Rice of Inside MMA:
“I spoke with Glenn Robinson, manager of Overeem and he says he is very respectful and is hopeful that he will be granted his license and the entire team is very confident that he will be facing Junior dos Santos come May 26th. Now Robinson wanted to make it very clear that despite other reports, Overeem did not test high for testosterone, but rather his testosterone to epitestosterone was off and he has a reasonable explanation to why that is, which he will present to the commission next Tuesday.” - via mixedmartialarts.com
Listening to this report, it would seem that there is at least a small chance that we will see Alistair Overeem fight Junior dos Santos in Las Vegas after all. Now speculation will run wild over just exactly what Overeem's reasonable explanation will be, but most would assume that he will use the oft-turned to defense of TRT. Rice stated that NSAC director Keith Kizer told him that Overeem will have a hearing on April 24 but has not applied for a TRT exemption. However, Rice confirmed he still has time according to Kizer:
“Now, some have speculated that he may use the defense of testosterone replacement therapy or TRT as a defense as we’ve seen several fighters do before. Speaking with Kizer, he has said Overeem has not applied for TRT exemption, but that does not mean he can’t. He has time to do that. As long as he gives the commission’s doctors time to deal with the situation.”
This finding comes as no surprise in today's volatile MMA testing climate, where TRT is quickly becoming the most discussed topic in an arena where fighting skills should seem to be king. Will Alistair Overeem truly find himself facing Junior dos Santos? Is TRT a viable defense for fighters failing drug tests at an alarming rate? Does Overeem deserve to fight in the main event or not in your opinion?
Further Reading: Alistair Overeem officially applies for fighter's license in state of Nevada
The soap opera of UFC 146's main event continued yesterday with an interview involving Alistair Overeem's manager Glenn Robinson. Robinson seemed confident that Overeem would indeed be involved in the Heavyweight championship bout on May 26 in Las Vegas. His words sought to clarify exactly how Overeem's failed drug test would be clarified, in the sense he allegedly did not test for elevated levels of Testosterone, but rather only an irregularity in Testosterone to Epitestosterone levels. Overeem's levels in this regard registered at a lofty 14:1. Seeking to clear the name of his star fighter, Robinson relayed the following through Kenny Rice of Inside MMA:
“I spoke with Glenn Robinson, manager of Overeem and he says he is very respectful and is hopeful that he will be granted his license and the entire team is very confident that he will be facing Junior dos Santos come May 26th. Now Robinson wanted to make it very clear that despite other reports, Overeem did not test high for testosterone, but rather his testosterone to epitestosterone was off and he has a reasonable explanation to why that is, which he will present to the commission next Tuesday.” - via mixedmartialarts.com
Listening to this report, it would seem that there is at least a small chance that we will see Alistair Overeem fight Junior dos Santos in Las Vegas after all. Now speculation will run wild over just exactly what Overeem's reasonable explanation will be, but most would assume that he will use the oft-turned to defense of TRT. Rice stated that NSAC director Keith Kizer told him that Overeem will have a hearing on April 24 but has not applied for a TRT exemption. However, Rice confirmed he still has time according to Kizer:
“Now, some have speculated that he may use the defense of testosterone replacement therapy or TRT as a defense as we’ve seen several fighters do before. Speaking with Kizer, he has said Overeem has not applied for TRT exemption, but that does not mean he can’t. He has time to do that. As long as he gives the commission’s doctors time to deal with the situation.”
This finding comes as no surprise in today's volatile MMA testing climate, where TRT is quickly becoming the most discussed topic in an arena where fighting skills should seem to be king. Will Alistair Overeem truly find himself facing Junior dos Santos? Is TRT a viable defense for fighters failing drug tests at an alarming rate? Does Overeem deserve to fight in the main event or not in your opinion?
Further Reading: Alistair Overeem officially applies for fighter's license in state of Nevada
Comments
Overeem will be allowed to fight. He should probably just embrace the bad guy role because I doubt the fan response will be friendly.
Agree. and its not like if Overeem lied to us as we all knew he was juiced up from the begining , his opponnent JDS probably knew it, and they were still supposed to fight.
If the person who is directly concerned by Alistair's steroid usage (JDS) is not complaining and is willing to fight , I dont know why the commision ,or Dana or the fans wont let this fight happen.
He doesn't have a hope in hell. Keith Kizer said as much already.
Reem was lying to us, I dont know how many times, and said he didnt use PED's
Yeah but its not a real lie, because we all knew he was on the gear even if he claimed bein natural lol.
Its just like if you ask to a fat kid "who finished the chocolate cake ?" and he replies " it's not me ! " hahahahha
We all knew the true, it s just obvious , look at overeem's jaw and his body , n human can be like that naturally.
What Overeem was saying is wasnt really a lie , he just said what the press and fans wanted to hear and what he was supposed to say to compete. But we all know it wasnt true.
Its like when you go to a IFBB Pro like Jay Cutler and you ask him ,do you take steroids ?" He will always say : " no ! I take supplements ,then try to sell you the products of his sponsor" Its just the way it is , athletes say what they are supposed to say.
The proof is that everyone was calling him OverRoid and were making jokes about his "horse meat diet" even before he tested positive.
So everyone knew he was taking something. SO it wasnt a real lie.
Let say the "drug free talk" of Overeem was a kind of agreement between the press, the fans and himself in order to allow him to compete , cause we all wanna see those mass monsters (like overeem, ,lesnar, carwin etc.) in the cage or in the ring natural or not.
Your English just improved 2 fold...whats up with that?
I dont know if this is a compliment or what. but thank you.
My english isnt perfect but I try to improve .
Maybe one day I can be FEDOR EMELIANENKO's translator haha
(yes even in this thread i found a way to write the name of Fedor.)
i was about to think someone hacked your account, no broken english, and no fedor man love.... but this last post just restored my faith in humanity
Take it as a compliment bro. 8))
thank you. Do not hesitate to correct me. Im working in a hotel so I have to improve.
A second language is awesome M-1. Doors will open for you as a translator.
I don't know why but i always felt this fight would still happen. I hope it does because it had been a long time since i had been that much pumped for a fight.
Nowadays you got guys like Anderson Silva, GSP, Jose Aldo or even Cruz that are so much better than the rest that we never really get to see an amazing evenly matched fight where you think "what the hell is going to happen??". It's always like "he has a small chance, let's see if he can do it, after all nobody's invisible, but i doubt it..." But with this Alistair Overeem vs JDS we are all like "WOOOW this is going to be crazyyyy". Last time i felt that was for the JDS vs Velasquez fight but that fight was so short unfortunately.
Anyway, i hope that fight does happen.
how do you know that anyone isn't invisible, if you can't see them. Chinese Riddle for ya!!!!!
Wow, i did write invisible. Oh well, it's also true.
Yea, Hunter I left the IFL..."invisible fight league" I was getting my asss kicked and never saw it coming!
Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat....
Ok BullWinkle!
Thats an old cartoon related to what Bruce stated. Im pretty sure everyone misread that one lol
I got it Rocky, and Bullwinkle,evil leader, and Natasha
I really like the Reem and think the fight would be awesome but for sure the image of MMA will get hurt if a guy that failled a test gets alowed to fight.....Those guys are cheats and should be punished and banned.
If Diaz couldnt walk, no fking way Reem will. Reem's issues are performance enhancing. Cant wait to hear this excuse.
I've always been a huge fan of Reem (2nd fav HW behind Mir) but even I think it will be a dark and lonely day for MMA if they let him fight.
I always actually believe him and sort of still do, call me naive or ignorant if you want but I'll wait until the hearing and get a feel of how he defends himself before I judge him.
I have a feeling that whatever defense he tries to use it will be fairly obvious if he is realistically legit or just trying to squeeze through a loophole.
Thats what I'm waiting on to. It doesn't seem likely that this fight will happen. But stranger things have in the past and will again.
Considering I have NEVER seen an athlete win against the commission.
lol drug related bro
Nate Marquardt did. He tested positive and was released by the UFC, but he brought his doctors and upon review, the board determined it was a genuine screwup with dosage that just happened to occur around the test time, before they could catch it. Everything was well documented, so the board didn't have much of a problem dropping the suspension. The UFC on the other hand...
good info man.
I was watching the MMA Insider Live show on Spike the other day, and one of those guys, Quarry or Straka pointed out the obvious, there is no workout to increase muscle mass on your head, jaw, etc....Sad , but true, I actually like the guy, but disagree with cheating or PED's in a sport where there are many honest fighters.
IDK man, if you meet the right chick, your tongue and jaw muscles can get a heck of a workout.
Boxers have been known to chew large wads of bubble gum in order to train the muscles in their jaws (broken jaws are more common in boxing than MMA). Your neck muscles also absorb the force from blows, and lead to a better chin.
lol...true, true. damn near pulled a tongue piercing thru after an hour or so of fun before
I still want to see this fight. But I'm completely against Reem being cleared to fight. That's a dangerous precedent to set....
i have a feeling he will claim a bowel disease, they are known to cause depleted epitestosterone levels and the defense is saying that his ratios were whacked because he had normal t and low e
That'd be a pretty slick maneuver there. You're probably right.
Brock anyone?
A troll followed me in here, I suspect he will post directly below me.
If Overeem is licensed, it will be interesting to see how Dana responds considering the personal attack on Overeem after the initial test results.
If Overeem's defence is TRT, he will join a long list of high profile fighters like Chael Sonnen, Dan Henderson who are using TRT.
The problem however will be justifying the 14-1 ratio. This will be interesting as to how they defend these results.
The fans want this fight and hopefully Overeem will find a top doctor and lawyer that can convince the commission to get the licensing through.
His testosterone levels are ****ed because this beast eats humans and scales buildings. Send this freak to the circus.
If Overeem manage to win this bout there will always be a question if this was a clean fight. I would say JDS would get a rematch straight away. If JDS wins then Overeem will be out of the UFC.
Fight aint gonna happen...dana will hate overeem all the way to the next life...i wanna hear the excuse tho...im ready to laugh...
The fight will happen if possible. Dana doesn't hate Overeem nearly as much as he loves money.