The UFC 146 dominoes continue to fall following Friday night’s announcement that Frank Mir, not Alistair Overeem, would fight Junior dos Santos for the heavyweight title at UFC 146.
On Sunday, UFC president Dana White announced via Twitter that Cain Velasquez, Frank Mir’s original opponent, will now meet Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva on May 26. White did not say who Roy Nelson, Silva’s original opponent, will now face, but “Big Country” is expected to remain on the Memorial Day card.
This fight will mark Silva’s UFC debut and his first fight since getting knocked out by Daniel Cormier in Strikeforce last September. Velasquez hasn’t fought since losing his heavyweight title to Junior dos Santos last November at UFC on FOX 1.
A candidate that has been talked about as a potential opponent for Nelson has been Ben Rothwell, who knocked out Brendan Schaub Saturday night at UFC 145, however his manager Monte Cox told MMAFighting.com Sunday night that they have not been offered a fight against Nelson.
As for Overeem, he has yet to fully address why his testosterone to epitestosterone ratio came back at an above-limit 14:1 following a March 27 drug test in Las Vegas. and he hasn’t said anything since Friday’s announcement that he would not be fighting dos Santos after all. According to a source close to Overeem’s camp, the heavyweight is expected to release a written statement tomorrow morning at approximately 9 a.m. ET. to explain the situation from his perspective.
As of Sunday night, Overeem is still scheduled to meet with the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Tuesday to explain his side of the story. He can choose to withdraw his license application now that he isn’t scheduled to fight anymore, however, the NSAC would have to accept his withdrawal. Overeem could be sidelined for a year if the NSAC decides against granting him a license on Tuesday.
UFC 146’s main card will air live on pay-per-view from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.