...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
There were rumors circulating on Tuesday night that there may have been a failed drug test at this month's UFC 156 event in Las Vegas, but those rumors have now been shut down.
According to Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer, via Brent Brookhouse at BloodyElbow.com, all fighters on the card were administered urine tests out of the event, and all tests came back negative for performance enhancers and drugs of abuse.
However, there could be a potential issue depending on the results of a blood test administered to Alistair Overeem. The heavyweight was given the blood test to check testosterone levels as a condition of his license following his failed test last year, and results won't be back for a week. If the test comes back clean, Overeem will be set for his fight with Junior dos Santos at UFC 160.
Penick's Analysis: If Overeem's blood test comes back with a higher than acceptable testosterone level, or if something else is found in his system, it might just blow up the NSAC's insistence that urine testing is fine. Overeem has expressed no concern with the testing, and did his own over the last year to try proving that he was clean to the commission. But he also looked noticeably different than he did against Brock Lesnar in his first UFC fight, leading to speculation that it was due to getting off whatever he may have been on previously. Still, if he tests clean, he tests clean, and that will be that.
[Alistair Overeem art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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