If you’re a true MMA fan, you knew Alistair Overeem was scheduled to go in front of the Nevada State Athletic Commission today for a hearing regarding his 14:1 T/E test failure back on March 27.
Overeem did show up. He was there, in person, taking his medicine.
Or at least explaining how medicine he was unintentionally given by a rogue doctor caused his test failure.
The rogue doctor was the highlight of the proceedings, which were streamed online. Dr. Hector Oscar Molina is a self-described family medicine practitioner in Texas. He used to be a plastic surgeon, but those days seem to have ended when one of Molina’s patients was hospitalized after a botched breast augmentation surgery.
These days, he’s running a male performance-enhancement clinic in Texas where they’ll write you prescriptions that last up to a full year. And then there are the family violence charges Molina incurred exactly two years ago today.
Molina was a one-man circus during the meetings. As the story goes, he gave Overeem a shot on Jan. 12 after Overeem came in complaining of pain in his ribs. Molina gave him an anti-inflammatory shot, but mixed in a little bit of testosterone for good measure.
Overeem said Molina never told him he was mixing in the special ingredient, and Molina confirmed that he never said anything of the sort to Overeem.
Molina changed his story constantly when grilled by the Nevada commissioners. But amazingly enough, Molina’s terrible testimony and background worked in Overeem’s favor. The commission voted to keep Overeem out of action for nine months, retroactive to his March 27 test date.
Huh?
Explain something to me, if you can: King Mo Lawal goes in front of the commission and takes a full measure of blame for ingesting a substance that caused him to test positive for steroids. He gets a nine-month suspension.
Overeem goes in front of the same commission, puts the blame on a quack doctor and gets the same suspension?
How is this possible? And how is it possible that the commission closed out the proceedings by telling Overeem that they’re huge fans of his and they hope he’ll have the grace to come back and fight in Nevada someday?
They were actually apologetic that they were forced to suspend him at all.
I shouldn’t be surprised by today’s events. Money talks, especially in a city such as Las Vegas. But it’s a disheartening to see, especially after the treatment Lawal was given just a short time ago.
Preferential treatment should not be handed out when dealing with PED offenders. And the personal fandom of commissioners shouldn’t even be stated during events like this one. They have no place on the record, and certainly no place when doling out punishments.
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