Don’t expect to see Alistair Overeem fight on the UFC’s New Year’s Eve card

Suspended UFC heavyweight Alistair Overeem tweeted on Monday he'll be back to fight in December.

I'll be fighting again in December and mark my words, I'll be back.. to get the belt, sooner rather later.

Per the terms of his suspension for having elevated testosterone levels, he could technically be available by the card the UFC traditionally holds near New Year's Eve. However, the UFC isn't known to book a fight with a still-suspended fighter with hopes that he would get a license for their fight.

Will they change things up to get Overeem on the big end-of-the-year card? Don't bet on it. UFC chairman Lorenzo Fertitta said he won't book Overeem until he has a license.

"That's speculation," Fertitta said in a text to ESPN.com. "It's in the NSAC's hands. (The UFC) can't be presumptuous."

Overeem isn't eligible to apply for a license until Dec. 27, and the card is expected to be on Dec. 29. They would have to take a huge risk to put him on such an important event when he wasn't able to get a license before. He burned them for UFC 146 and made the UFC scramble to completely reconfigure the card. It makes sense they don't want to go through it again.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/don-t-expect-see-alistair-overeem-fight-ufc-221227233--mma.html

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