UFC 244 controversy: 5 other major UFC fights that were put into jeopardy by drug tests

#2 UFC 141: Alistair Overeem vs. Brock Lesnar

Alistair Overeem's fight with Brock Lesnar was placed in jeopardy following a drug testing fiasco

When the UFC signed Alistair Overeem – one of the hottest fighters in the world – and matched him against fellow behemoth Brock Lesnar on the final show of 2011, UFC 141, the MMA world was salivating. In a bizarre set of circumstances though, the promotion almost lost the fight entirely following an anomalous drug test result from Overeem during the build to the fight.

Both Overeem and Lesnar were required by the Nevada State Athletic Commission to provide samples for out-of-competition drug testing a month prior to the fight, and while Lesnar’s came back fine, Overeem’s apparently did not meet the commission’s standards. The NSAC demanded he submit a second sample, but as he was about to head back to his native Netherlands to attend to his sick mother, ‘The Reem’ used his personal physician to test him and provided the Commission with the results.

That didn’t sit well with the NSAC, and for a few days it looked like the fight would be scrapped. But just weeks before the event, the Commission met and decided to award Overeem a “conditional license” to fight, with the fighter being told to submit another pre-fight test as well as further, extra post-fight drug tests less than six months after the bout.

For their part, the NSAC stated they believed that Overeem was a clean athlete – and so the fight went ahead, with the Dutchman stopping Lesnar by TKO in the first round. Unfortunately, it would not be the first time that anomalous drug tests would throw fights involving Overeem into jeopardy.