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« | Home | »

In ridiculous NSAC hearing, Alistair Overeem is granted a conditional license

By Zach Arnold | December 12, 2011

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Alistair Overeem participated at today’s NSAC meeting via phone. Keith Kizer stated that out-of-competition drug testing for both Brock Lesnar & Alistair Overeem was established on November 17th. Overeem’s drug test did not occur, as his camp replied back on November 21st (he left for Holland). Brock’s drug test was done at a hospital. Overeem ended up taking a blood test on November 23rd. It was not the test NSAC was looking for but the blood test came back clean. Overeem ended up taking the test the NSAC wanted on December 7th and the results haven’t come back yet. Overeem was quizzed about why he needed to go to Germany for testing instead of doing the testing in Holland. At this point, the commission put Overeem under oath during his testimony.

(Keith Kizer believes urine tests are more accurate than blood tests for doping.)

Mr. Overeem stated that his mother is in poor health and he needed to take care of family affairs. He said that drug testing procedures are different in Holland. He stated that the most recent test was administered by his own personal doctor. The commission then questioned his testing sample based on his personal doctor overseeing the test. As far as the delay in response to the NSAC, he stated that he didn’t get notice of the test when he left the airport to go back home to Holland. Overeem said that his assistant didn’t state what kind of drug testing sample was requewsted of him. He exclaimed that he did not intentionally cause any delays in testing and that he did what was asked of him.

“I did not take any effort to avoid testing. Furthermore, I have done exactly what I’ve been told to do.”

The commission then asked if UFC knew he was going back to Holland. A member of the commission asked Overeem if this was his first fight at Heavyweight. He was questioned about his weight gain from Light Heavyweight to Heavyweight. one of Alistair’s assistants (Collin Lam) then talked to the commission. Jon Luther:

“So, it appears that Overeem’s assistant has never worked with any other athletes, any athletic commissions, and knows zip about drug testing.”

The commission stated that Overeem can get a conditional fighter’s license from the Nevada State Athletic Commission provided that he pays for any additional drug testing. Deliberation took place over a motion for a conditional license pending the 12/7 drug testing sample coming back clean and two additional tests being administered. No one on the commission seconded the motion, so more deliberation took place. Brett Okamoto noted the hold-up in deliberations was based on the fact that the 12/7 urine sample test results have not come back yet. Mike Chiappetta:

“Long story short, they’re talking about giving him another test but trying to figure out where that would be and which ones are qualified.”

As Eddie Goldman stated perfectly… “So deceptive for Nevada commission to say they tested Floyd Mayweather. He had to go to USADA for sort-of Olympic-style drug testing.”

The end result? Nevada wants Overeem to take a new drug test within 72 hours and then be subjected to two random drug tests within the next six months.

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 37 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

37 Responses to “In ridiculous NSAC hearing, Alistair Overeem is granted a conditional license”

  1. 45 Huddle says:

    How do you skip a test for 5 days and still be allowed to fight?

    What’s the point of random testing if there is absolutely no repercussions for missing them?

    The NSAC continues to show how much of a joke they are.

    At this point, the UFC does a better job regulating themselves internationally then the NSAC does when they run shows there.

    • smoogy says:

      Funny comment considering their last UK main event almost certainly wouldn’t have happened if Leben was held to the same standards as Overeem is now.

      • cutch says:

        How do you know he would’nt have passed the test? he had just fought 4 times in a row in Vegas before he got busted in England.

      • 45 Huddle says:

        The UFC has caught Leben two times.

        The Athletic Commissions have never caught him.

        I would say the UFC is doing something right.

        And their penalty was swift, strong, and fair. How often can you say that about the AC’s?

  2. Chromium says:

    Overeem was informed of the test when he was in Holland. Usually the rule of thumb is to reply within 48 hours, but socialized health care is a little slower I guess? (and I’m a supporter of socialized health care)

    Brock got the test four days after the summons it seemed. Overeem replied six days later and with a blood test, which apparently was an insufficient replacement for a less accurate and less comprehensive urine test.

    Either way, fight appears to be going on and honestly I could care less that the licensing process was convoluted. Think of it as an IQ test for fighters. Overeem is clearly very good at cycling, and if Brock is doing it too at this point (not talking about the WWE hear where he was even bigger and more shredded), he is perfect at it.

  3. Alan Conceicao says:

    When major commissions roll over to allow money fights to happen in boxing: CORRUPTION!

    When major commissions roll over to allow money fights to happen in MMA: They’re incompetent! If only Dana ran this, I’m sure he’d have demanded a pee test on time.

    LOL.

    • Chromium says:

      Well, being that we actually got to listen to this one live (a guy on JustinTV live-streamed it from his i-Phone until his battery died near the end), it really did sound more like incompetence than corruption. There was just way too much plausible deniability, basically, and that was mostly the NSAC’s fault (the rest being circumstance since the commission issued the request just one hour before Overeem’s plane to Holland took off), regardless whether Overeem was on the level or not.

      • Alan Conceicao says:

        You can listen to most any of these, and nobody does because they’re boring and nothing really happens at any of them. Every time there’s one where people go “OOOOH SOMETHINGS GONNA HAPPEN” and then it ends up sounding like what people portrayed here.

      • mr. roadblock says:

        I’ve explained it over and over again. The athletic commission has two functions.

        1. Collect 4% tax on each ticket sold.

        2. Issue and collect a bunch of paper work and tests to provide the state (in this case Nevada) with plausible deniablity in court if/when a fighter dies or has a serious health condition as a result of fighting.

  4. MMA Tycoon says:

    Well, I must say, this is all a total surprise.

  5. EJ says:

    I don’t know why anyone is surprised by this, i’ve been saying for years that Kizer and the NSAC is as full of crap as the CSAC. Only they have gotten a pass on most of their dealings looks like now finally some spotlight is coming their way only it’s too late. Kizer is the perfect example of a guy who talks tought but in the end has no credibility and with the 2 major AC’s being nothing more than a joke. How can you take anything they say or do when it comes to mma seriously? the answer as far as i’m concerned is you don’t.

    • RST says:

      They may be as full of crap (I would assume most commisions of any feather probably are by nature), but at least they’re a bit more disciplined then csac.

      Watching csac bumble around, contradict themselves and abuse their authority is liking watching Roscoe P Coltrane fighting crime.

  6. Darkmader says:

    So if he’s clean and can fight, sucks for him, because he can’t do drugs for 6 months as it will be random testing. But he’ll take a 6 month break after this fight anyways as he’ll get massive amounts of $$$$ and probably a PPV cut too if he’s clean and start talking shit about Lesnar and whatnot to build up the fight.

    Get the transcript of this Zach and be on top of it, as you are probably the most qualified to break down this subject than 95% of the sites/bloggers. Todd Martin is chomping at the bit to break this down but I hope you make sense of this garbage.

  7. Megatherium says:

    Well it looks like they want the big fight to go ahead as scheduled. Can’t say I’m suprised. Sure both guys are probably hopped up on God knows what, but we knew that anyway. The show goes on.

  8. Manapua says:

    Dana was not going to let his buddy Keith Kizer ruin his NYE show.

  9. Safari_Punch says:

    Is anyone surprised by any of this?

    It will be an interesting day if the FBI turns these athletic commissions upside down and findings are ever made public.

  10. liger05 says:

    And people think Floyd’s demands on testing are unreasonable?

    • 45 Huddle says:

      The tests themselves? Not really.

      The reasoning for doing it? Absolutely.

      The idea that a fighter should dictate the regulating terms is not a good idea.

  11. liger05 says:

    I agreeit would be a lot better if the commission making the rules but as we can see the commissions testing isnt up to scratch.

  12. edub says:

    The UFC breaking up into three seperate parts: Zuffa (ownership), FA (Fighters or combatants association), and a UFC rule body (could influence a rankings procedures, Official/judge placing, and most importantly health regulation); would make athletic commissions for MMA a thing of the past.

    The UFC out grew the need for AC’s a few years ago IMO.

    • RST says:

      Interesting.

    • Alan Conceicao says:

      They can try to influence all they want to. In the end, the sanctioning will still legally be the responsibility of the state athletic commission unless there are changes in the laws of those particular states. No reason to try and force a power struggle.

      • Alan Conceicao says:

        Besides, this all assumes that a company in which pretty much all the public figures allegedly use HGH is really interested in locking down fighters use of PEDs.

        • edub says:

          Very true. My scenario was more a “perfect world” case. where the heads of Zuffa were actively seeking a better way to bust PED users (on top of ceding a little bit of control of their company to somebody not named White or Fertita).

        • Phil says:

          The sports league that really wants to end PEDs for the sake of “cleanliness” or safety will be the first. The only reason any sports are regulated is because of government or media pressure.

      • edub says:

        Federal law could change that a lot quicker. However, Zuffa would have to provide a case where the State Commissions do more harm then they do good. Which might actually be the truth, but probably wouldn’t be proveable. Plus there’s the whole taking money out of state government’s pockets situation that wouldn’t fly.

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          LOL the feds doing something about state athletic commissions. There’s been legislation about trying to change that set up re: boxing for decades that literally went nowhere. The UFC isn’t going to get anything done either.

        • edub says:

          No I completely agree. I’m just saying that would be the best for Zuffa, and the sport. I actually think Zuffa would have a better chance at winning too, as one promotion (they could also just call themselves a league) instead of a bunch of different motions which was/is the case in boxing.

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          And let me present the argument back to you: is the UFC going to sanction all professional martial arts, including events outside of their spectrum, or is it expected that local promoters will do it themselves? No one is going to accept the Gary Shaws of the world, much less dudes who are less than Gary Shaw (ie ex Toughman promoters and the like) self regulating themselves for professional or amateur MMA.

          Look, in a perfect world, I’ve argued for years that it would be the best that the UFC be spun off as an independent sanctioning body and required small shows to pay a fee to them to use their name as official feeder leagues and the like, but they’re not interested in doing that due to a perception that they’d dilute their name and lose complete control of anything involving the UFC brand.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          They are going to Internationalize TUF as much as possible to get their hands on as much talent world wide as possible…. I think that’s their short term master plan….

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          Its one thing to internationalize TUF and then sign up a bunch of random guys. Its another to hand over the duties of promoting these fighters to run shows in their specific countries. I don’t think that’ll happen.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Eventually I could see them doing regional shows in certain countries…. But the shows wouldn’t be called “UFC”, and the people running the shows would be taking direct orders from the UFC’s main office.

          But that would be 20 years away.

  13. RST says:

    Lol @ Overeem blaming everything on his assistant who is “not familiar with athletic commission stuff.”

    The ole Oliver North strategy.
    Its a classic.

    Ya think that Low testosterone levels and an idiot assistant will be the new cutting edge of training to win?

  14. Megatherium says:

    According to Tatame Wand and Belfort are the TUF Brazil coaches and they will fight at seasons end. The list of camp invitees listed on the UFC Brazil website includes easily the best talent ever assembled for TUF. This better be available for viewing some way somehow up here.

  15. […] Fight Opinion has all of the details of what went down earlier this week when the NSAC conditionally licensed Alistair Overeem, quite the circus event! […]

  16. […] all the hullabaloo that the Nevada State Athletic Commission put Alistair Overeem through in regards to taking a urine drug test, he’s touting how he’s been drug tested the most […]

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