Dutch kickboxing dynamo Alistair Overeem sent shockwaves through the MMA world when a surprise drug test administered by the Nevada State Athletic Commission revealed he had a 14-to-1 testosterone-to-epitestosterone (T/E) ratio. A normal man has a ratio of 1-to-1, and the Nevada limit is 6-to-1.
Overeem will explain the discrepancy to the commission at a meeting Tuesday in Las Vegas. At stake is a UFC 146 title fight with champion Junior dos Santos.
In the wake of Overeem’s drug test, headlines across the internet proclaimed he had “failed a drug test.” That didn’t sit well with middleweight provocateur Chael Sonnen, who told Bleacher Report he thought the media had fallen down on the job.
“For the media to not understand things in the Alistair Overeem case is shame on them,” Sonnen said. “Again, if they want to voice their opinions, they’re welcome to do that. The First Amendment gives you that right. But it’s completely different when a viewer who is tuning in, taking time out of his day to watch you, to gather information, and you’re putting out misinformation because you haven’t taken the time to learn the facts. That’s what’s happened in the Overeem case.
“He took a substance test; he did not test positive for any substance. They are now trying to say he has failed because he has a T/E ratio that is out of whack. Well, the biggest problem there is, they have no idea what T/E means. If you are going to hang your hat on ‘Alistair Overeem has failed a drug test’ because he had an elevated T/E ratio, show me the page, show me the paragraph and show me the sentence specifically within the rulebook that says that that’s a violation.
“Nowhere in the rulebook is it illegal to have an elevated T/E ratio. We all attempt to manipulate our testosterone level. That’s not against the rules. The question is how? What did you do to elevate it? What did you take? What did you eat? These become the questions and that’s where anybody could run into a problem.
“However, they tested him four times, two times (by) surprise, and the answer came back nothing. They did not find a substance. Those are the facts. If you have an opinion on it, and you think he did this, or he masked it, he hid it. By all means say that. But not if you’re a member of the media. If you’re a member of the media, you can’t say it if you didn’t see it.”
The Ultimate Show will have much more in the days to come from a wide ranging 30 minute conversation between Sonnen and lead MMA writer Jonathan Snowden.
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