A blood test administered to heavyweight Alistair Overeem following his loss at UFC 156 earlier this month has come back clean, and with testosterone levels below the normal testing range.
Overeem (36-12 MMA, 1-1 UFC) fought Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva (18-4 MMA, 2-1 UFC) on the main card of the pay-per-view event at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. He suffered a third-round knockout loss, which spoiled his chance at a heavyweight title shot against champion Cain Velasquez.
MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com) on Tuesday requested and received the test results from the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which oversaw the Feb. 2 fight.
Overeem, along with the other 21 fighters on the UFC 156 card, tested clean for performance-enhancing drugs, recreational drugs and drugs of abuse in a post-fight drug test. But Overeem was required to take a blood test in addition to the standard urinalysis.
Overeem was licensed for UFC 156 by the NSAC, but he was denied a license this past April after failing a pre-fight drug test for UFC 146. During a commission hearing, he said he took a mixture of vitamins from a doctor that unknowingly contained testosterone, which caused his test to come back with elevated levels.
At the April hearing, the commission did not suspend Overeem, but kept him from applying for a license again for nine months from his positive test.
But with his blood test form his UFC 156 fight, his testosterone total level actually fell below the normal range of 250-1,100 nano grams per deciliter (ng/dL). Overeem's total testosterone came in at 179 from the test, which was administered the morning after the fight at 8:25 a.m. on Feb. 3.
All other levels within the blood test came back within the normal reference range.
Overeem controlled the first two rounds of his fight with Silva, but in the third, "Bigfoot" stormed to the center of the cage and quickly had Overeem in trouble up against the fence with punches. After eating several big punches, the Dutch former Strikeforce champion finally went down as Silva celebrated the major upset.
For more on UFC 156, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.
http://www.mmajunkie.com/news/2013/02/overeems-ufc-156-blood-test-clean-with-testosterone-levels-below-normal-range
