Alistair Overeem and Brett Rogers may be fighting for the Stikeforce heavyweight title in St. Louis on Saturday night, but it doesn't necessarily mean they'll have to undergo pre or post-fight drug tests to do it.
Despite the title being on the line, and despite widespread questions about Overeem's growth in recent years (including a remark from Rogers about his opponent's "eastern diet"), Tim Lueckenhoff of the Missouri Office of Athletics confirmed that there is no guarantee that any particular fighter will be tested for banned substances, championship bout or no.
"The Missouri Office of Athletics is committed to insuring that MMA events are conducted in a fair and safe manner," Lueckenhoff said via email. "Contestants are required to submit proof that they are not infected with the HIV virus or hepatitis B or C virus. In addition, we have authority to require any contestant to submit to a drug test or a medical exam.
"Failure to submit to the drug test, or pass the medical exam may result in our refusal to allow the contestant to participate in the bout, or we may take disciplinary action against their license. Information related to our directive that a contestant submit to a drug test or medical exam in not public information unless we file an action seeking discipline of their license."
So what does that mean?
For one, just because Overeem has returned to the U.S. to defend his belt, that doesn't mean he'll necessarily face a stricter screening process than he did in Japan. For another, we may never know for sure who was and wasn't tested for this event unless their sample comes up positive, or there is some other issue regarding the test.
Looks like when Overeem assured people that he and Rogers would both "have to pee," he wasn't accounting for Missouri's somewhat secretive testing procedures.
Pretty much every other state that sanctions MMA has mandatory drug testing for 1. Championship fights and 2. Main Event participants (regardless if a belt is on the line). Then they do random tests on a few other fighters on the card. Missouri doesn't. They're more concerned with fighters being sick (HIV, hepatitis B or C) than they are with fighters juicing and using illegal substances. Kinda ass backwards. 
Maybe we can see it now that Kimbo is available again.
