UFC 146 was supposed to feature one of the most anticipated heavyweight bouts in years. Former Strikeforce and lineal champion Alistair Overeem was supposed to meet current UFC Heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos. Instead, an unexpected drug test at a March press conference lead to Dos Santos making his first defense against former champ Frank Mir. Since then, we’ve seen a bit of a war of words between The Reem and JDS. While Overeem has called out Dos Santos as being afraid of him, Junior has countered that more stringent drug testing may be necessary for Alistair.
Although JDS has repeatedly touted his ability to knock out the lineal champ, his proposed testing restriction have given way to criticism that he may indeed fear the K-1 GP champ. UFC president Dana White took to the Underground to defend his champion:
dfw jr – just an fyi JDS begged me for the Reem fight said he respects Cain very much and thinks he deserves the shot but would like to KO Reem first cause he hates him. word for word what he said.
Dos Santos is now set to defend his belt at UFC 155 against the man he took it from a year ago in Cain Velasquez. It’s clear that Dana supports the match between Junior and Overeem as he announced earlier this week that Alistair will be granted an immediate title shot upon his return from license denial.
Before that, Cigano will have to conquer Velasquez once again at 155 on December 29. the event will take place in MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV. On top of that, Overeem needs to get re-licensed after December 27 when his restriction has expired.
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