Dana White reveals plans for UFC drug testing program to save MMA

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White has had it up to here (my fingers are stretching to the sky) with the steroid scofflaws fouling up his beloved mixed martial arts (MMA).

And he's looking long and hard at Alistair Overeem.

"Demolition Man" screwed up White's upcoming UFC 146 main event after he destroyed the dial on the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) testosterone meter, registering an astounding T/E ratio of 14:1, which he unsuccessfully blamed on a laced anti-inflammatory injectable cocktail that he used to treat an injured rib.

NSAC wasn't having it, denying Overeem a license to fight in "Sin City" until early 2013, at which time the horse meat-eating mammoth will be eligible to once again entertain the application process. The entire fiasco, unsurprisingly, didn't sit very well with White, who revealed shortly after the NSAC ruling that Overeem "lied to his face" about his use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).

White now plans to escalate the situation, telling the Los Angeles Times that he and his mixed martial arts promotion are going to take matters into their own hands to ensure an extra layer of protection.

Check it out:

"The steroid, [performance-enhancing drug] thing affects the whole sport. The key is to make sure these guys never get on it, because once they do, they change. The problem with Overeem is that I want to sit in a room with him man to man and believe him. He told me before he ever fought for us, 'Don't worry, I'm the most tested athlete in sports.' But I think we have about 42 fights a year ... you have a guy or two popping [positive tests] here and there, that's a pretty good ratio.... Yes, we're going to do our own testing, order these guys into [a lab]; we're sorting it out now. You have to do this to save the sport. You can't have these guys fighting on this stuff."

Frank Mir stepped into replace Overeem and will challenge UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior dos Santos in the featured fight of the night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena this Saturday night (May 26, 2012).

However, after White removed Overeem from the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix and inserted him into a number one contender bout against Brock Lesnar late last year, which he won via technical knockout, it was pretty clear that fight fans -- even White -- were eager to witness the colossal clash between him and "Cigano."

But, a surprise drug test administered by the NSAC nullified that possibility, as well as triggered an entire fight card shake up.

One that may have never existed if Overeem, and the UFC, had a an out of competition testing program in place that kept fighters honest most (if not all) of the time. It's pretty certain that some fighters will still look to cheat whatever testing system the promotion ultimately implements, but dangling it over their heads and threatening their livelihoods could be an effective first line of defense.

Hopefully, it' got some teeth and isn't riddled with "exemptions."