Don’t start placing your bets on a heavyweight title fight between Junior dos Santos and Alistair Overeem just yet.
According to The Las Vegas Review-Journal (h/t MMA Junkie), Overeem was charged with misdemeanor battery within the days following his UFC 141 victory over Brock Lesnar, a win that UFC president Dana White said had guaranteed the former Strikeforce heavyweight champion a UFC title shot.
If found guilty of the charges against him, Overeem faces a maximum of six months in county jail and a $1,000 fine.
Overeem has not been made available for comment on the matter, but his attorney, David Chesnoff, has provided Bleacher Report with the following statement:
I have advised Alistair not to comment on this matter, and that we will do our talking in court. It should be noted that Alistair was not arrested, he was summoned to court. There are two sides to this story and we intend on vigorously defending this as Alistair maintains his innocence.
The alleged incident occurred in the early hours of Jan. 2 at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel, where Overeem was accused of “pushing or shoving” a woman in the face. No other details on the incident have been made public, but Overeem is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 21.
At the time of this article’s release, the UFC has made no comment on Overeem’s situation.
Overeem’s expected title fight with dos Santos has not yet been scheduled, as the UFC heavyweight champion is recovering from injuries sustained in preparation for his most recent fight against Cain Velasquez.
Sean Smith is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. For the latest insight and updates on everything MMA, Follow Sean Smith on Twitter
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