On Tuesday morning, UFC president Dana White tweeted a smiley face and then, perhaps drawing out the suspense of what was to follow, took 15 minutes to deliver his follow-up tweet:
And with those 10 words he confirmed what will be the biggest heavyweight fight in combined weight and most likely pay-per-view buys for the promotion in 2011.
Overeem’s status for the fight was thrown into doubt last week when he delivered a delayed and improperly administered steroid test to the UFC. During a hearing with the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Overeem detailed the reasons for the delay and why a blood test was administered by his personal doctor rather a urine test from a testing facility.
The NSAC were seemingly satisfied with Overeem’s explanation that he did not willingly avoid the out-of-competition testing and awarded him a conditional license to compete against Brock Lesnar at UFC 141. The first condition of that license was that he take a urine test within 72 hours of the hearing’s end.
Overeem lived up to that condition, flying from Holland to England to take the test, which, according to White’s tweet, came back clean, clearing Overeem for the December 30 fight. With that being said, there are still remaining conditions to be met by Overeem.
The first is that he be tested when he returns to the United States from Holland. Following that, he is subject to two random drug tests after the fight.
The five-round bout between Lesnar and Overeem will determine the No. 1 contender for the UFC heavyweight title that is currently held by Junior dos Santos.
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