UFC
UFC Champ Junior dos Santos wants blood testing if he ever fights Alistair Overeem
Jun 14, 2012 - 10:35:04 PM

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Junior dos Santos' next Heavyweight Championship bout will come against the man he defeated to win the Title, Cain Velasquez, but a name that remains on his mind is Alistair Overeem, the man he was originally supposed to meet at UFC 146 last month.

Overeem's failed random drug test forced him out of their bout, and he's out of action until 2013, as he can't reapply for a license until the end of December. With the two heavyweights likely on a collision course next year, dos Santos believes Overeem should have to win a fight upon his return before being re-handed a title fight in the UFC.

"I think he doesn’t deserve a title shot right now," Dos Santos said in an interview with ESPN. "Overeem needs to have another fight before having a title shot."

Whenever a potential Overeem-dos Santos bout does take place, the Champ will have some demands for Overeem and his camp.

"I would like him to do a test - a blood test," dos Santos said. "I think we both need to do that. I want a clean fight and he needs to prove he is not under any kind of substances."

Dos Santos has been immensely outspoken against performance enhancing drugs and the fighters who use them, and he continued that campaign with some very pointed comments in this interview.

"Using drugs is completely unnecessary, and I am the living proof," he said. "I’m the champion, and I never used any kind of forbidden substances. Fighting a guy that uses these kinds of drugs is completely unfair and useless. With or without any kind of authorization [for using testosterone], the fighter who uses those substances is never fighting with his own skills. He is enhancing his power with those drugs."

"When you have a fight with two 'clean' fighters, you will know after the fight who is the real champion. A guy who uses doping is a fake fighter."

Penick's Analysis: Dos Santos is one of many fighters who are calling for more stringent testing in the sport, and he's been as outspoken as any in his criticisms of fighters who are trying to skirt the rules. Whether he can get Overeem or the UFC to go along with the blood testing he's asking for, and whether they make it a random test during the lead up to that fight whenever it does take place, are both questions that won't be answered until it gets set up. Still, dos Santos is making his stance on the entire issue very clear, and he'll hope those views are taken seriously.

[Junior dos Santos art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]