UFC
UFC's Alistair Overeem breaks his silence - sort of - confident bout with JDS at UFC 146 will happen
Apr 13, 2012 - 2:00:14 PM UFC's Alistair Overeem breaks his silence - sort of - confident bout with JDS at UFC 146 will happen

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Alistair Overeem broke his silence - sort of - on Thursday's edition of MMA Uncensored Live on Spike TV, but he didn't address his current predicament with the Nevada State Athletic Commission or his failed pre-fight drug test for an elevated T/E ratio.

Instead, Overeem talked like someone who was confident he'd be fighting on May 26 in a pre-recorded interview with the show's producer. In the interview, he would only discuss his matchup with Junior dos Santos, and very much seems to believe the fight's happening.

"I am bigger, I am stronger, I am better in the stand-up and I'm better on the ground," he said. "So for me, I don't think about what he is going to do to me. I'm thinking about what I am going to do to him, and I am only thinking about what I am going to do to him. I am going to be ready wherever the fight takes me. I do prefer to strike, I do prefer a knockout over a submission win but I'm going to be ready for anything."

"You know I'm strong, I'm fast, I feel good. I'm going to get this guy, I'm going to beat him. Nothing scares me the most about Junior dos Santos. Everything he's doing, I've seen it before. I'm not worried about it, I've experienced it all. There's no fear, there's only two things – trained and untrained and when I step into the Octagon on May 26 I'm going to be trained."

After his quick segment, hosts Craig Carton, Mike Straka, and Nate Quarry proceeded to not buy any excuse he could present, and compared older and newer photos of Overeem to outright say he's been on performance enhancing drugs during his career.

Frank Mir was then interviewed on the show, and while he's hoping to get himself in line for a title shot if Overeem is out, he's still withholding judgment until Overeem appears in front of the NSAC later this month.

"As of right now I'm still training for Cain," Mir said. "Obviously like everyone else I've seen in the background that there's a possibility that Overeem's not going to be able to make the fight on the 26th and I want to make sure I'm in a situation where I can jump in."

"I'm very much on the point of innocent until proven guilty. If he has a hearing and comes in and speaks, I want to hear what he has to say. All six of us were tested that day that were on that stage, he had some complications with his test obviously; give the man a chance to speak about it."

Penick's Analysis: Overeem's demeanor makes it seem like he believes he'll fight, but I'm still very skeptical that's going to happen. Perhaps I'm not being cynical enough and am of the belief that the commission is not going to let him slide with a TRT defense this close to the fight, but I just don't know right now. He hasn't really given anything in this interview, and the hosts of the show ripped into him right after the interview, but we'll have to see what his explanation will be with the NSAC later this mont.

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