Speaking optimistically about his future, Alistair Overeem said on Thursday night’s MMA Uncensored Live on Spike TV that he and his team would soon go in front of the Nevada state athletic commission (NSAC) with hopes of receiving a conditional license for a possible Dec. 29 heavyweight title fight against champion Junior dos Santos. He even went so far as to say that a date for the meeting had been tentatively set, but not confirmed.
This came as news to the commission’s executive director, Keith Kizer, on Friday morning, who told MMA Fighting that while NSAC will hold its regular monthly meeting on August 24, Overeem is not among the scheduled topics of discussion. In fact, he said, he hasn’t even heard from anyone in Overeem’s camp about putting him on the docket.
“That must be wishful thinking,” he said. “He will not be on the agenda.”
Furthermore, Kizer said under existing state statutes, Overeem would not be able to apply for a license until December 27, making his eligibility for a fight two days later a near-impossibility. In effect, Kizer said, there is no legal way to grant him an early hearing.
“I see no way to do that. I know of none,” he said. “But even if the commission had some discretion to grant some waiver of time, I personally don’t see this as the case. I’d be against that. There is some discretion at the commission level, but I don’t think this is the case to use that discretion. This is not just a guy who engaged in cheating, but a guy who ran out the front door when the testing was being done.”
The last comment is in reference to Overeem’s March 27 drug screening that eventually tested positive for an increased T/E ratio. During an April NSAC hearing about the matter, Kizer testified that Overeem sped out of the MGM Grand after being told he would be subject to a test before returning after prodding from UFC management.
Kizer said that Overeem would be able to take some goodwill steps towards the future licensing process including getting his medicals done and having them prepared to file on the first day of eligibility, but that his licensing was unlikely to be moved up.
That goes against the hope of Overeem, who said on Thursday, “I think we will get it sooner. Maybe a conditional license that I have to appear and do some random tests”
“We have a set date,” he went on to say when asked if he was set to see the commission. “This month.”
While Overeem will not be going in front of NSAC in August, Kizer did note that through the UFC, he has received results of drug testing that Overeem self-initiated.
“I can’t speak for the commissioners, but I give him a little credit for it,” he said. “I appreciate the effort. I’m not sure how relevant it is though. I guess any negative test has some merit. It definitely beats any positive result.”
In the meantime, Kizer said the commission can still request a random sample of Overeem, with the results affecting his future standing in Nevada.
“If he fails or if he refuses to test, that would be a factor [in the licensing process],” he said. “Or if he passed, that would be a factor, too. There’s always the ability to ask.”
While Overeem and even UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta recently voiced a hope that the former Strikeforce champion could be licensed early, paving the way for a long-awaited matchup with dos Santos in December, if Kizer’s interpretation of the state’s rules are correct, it won’t happen on their time frame. Instead, Overeem will have to wait things out and re-apply on Dec. 27. And if that’s the case, with promotion critical to an event’s success and no certainty to Overeem’s situation until two days before fight night, Cain Velasquez is likely to rematch with the man that beat him for the gold.