Alistair Overeem – Photo by Getty Images
Former Strikeforce heavyweight champion, and current suspended UFC fighter Alistair Overeem has apparently righted his wrongs and is back in the good graces of UFC president Dana White.
At the post-fight press conference for UFC 148 White talked to the media afterwards about a number of subjects.
MMAFighting.com reporter Ariel Helwani asked White about a meeting he had with Overeem recently looking for details on how things went between the two.
“Alistair (Overeem) did meet with me.”
“I think he’s a stud. I liked the meeting, I liked what he had to say, I liked the fact that he came into town came over … he came into the thing and I saw walk in, he was meeting Lorenzo (Fertitta), I fuckin walked into my office and shut the door.”
“And he went downstairs and waited for forty minutes until I called him upstairs, and then came into my office like a man, and uh, nothing but respect for Alistair now. We all make mistakes and we all do stupid shit. I say this all the time. It’s all in how you deal with your mistakes and how you handle yourself after. He handled himself like a fuckinging stud.”
“… He was an absolute stud and a man and I respect him for what he did.”
“He doesn’t need to fucking talk to me he can talk to Lorenzo. He didn’t have to wait for me, he didn’t have to come up and say what he said to me. He and Lorenzo were talking, but he did.”
Another member of the media asked about whether or not fans would see him in the Octagon this year if he is successful in re-applying for a license following his nine-month suspension.
“I don’t know. He’s doing all the right things now. He’s fixing all the wrongs and we’ll see what happens.”
Overeem tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone (14:1 ratio) this past April following a surprise pre-fight drug test by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. ‘The Reem’ was pulled from his title bout versus UFC champ Junior dos Santos, slated for UFC 146, and was replaced by Frank Mir.
Overeem has maintained his innocence, saying that it was a medication he took prescribed by a doctor, vowing to return and offering to take several drug tests at his own costs to show that he is clean.