The Heavyweight fighters who participated at today's (March 27, 2012) UFC 146 press conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, got a little bit more than they bargained for at the conclusion of the promotional festivities.
According to MMA Fighting, Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) director, Keith Kizer, administered a random drug test on all fighters in attendance, which included Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos, Alistair Overeem, Cain Velasquez, Frank Mir, Roy Nelson and Antonio Silva.
"We brought the drug test to them instead of making them go to the drug test. If they were not in Las Vegas, I would need to find them a lab, which is of course, much more of a hassle."
Random indeed.
The report also states that the results may not be made available until well after UFC 146, which is set to go down at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 26, 2012. However, in the unfortunate case that results come back positive for any competitor, it could change the landscape of the first-ever UFC heavyweight pay-per-view (PPV) main card.
Oddly enough, one of the headliners, Overeem, was the centerpiece of a drug test fiasco prior to UFC 141 in which he was given a conditional license to fight, but had to follow strict guidelines handed down by the NSAC. Ultimately, "The Reem" passed all testing and went on to defeat Brock Lesnar at UFC 141 late last year via technical knockout and send him into mixed martial arts (MMA) retirement.
"Bigfoot," meanwhile, was popped for using steroids back in 2008, a finding that he vehemently denied.
No excuses this time, which is perhaps the true reason for the sneak attack.
As always, keep it tuned to MMAmania.com as more details become available.
For a complete recap of the UFC 146 fight press conference click here. To watch the full UFC 146 press conference video online click here. And to see the big boys stare each other down click here.
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