punches at 2:26 of the first round. The victory earned him a heavyweight title shot against champion Junior dos Santos. Failed drug test Overeem was scheduled to fight UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior dos Santos on 26 May 2012 at UFC 146. However, on 4 April 2012, Overeem was revealed to have failed his pre-fight drug test by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC). Overeem had a 14-to-1 testosterone-to-epitestosterone (T/E) ratio, over the allowed ratio rate of 6-to-1. On Friday 20 April 2012 UFC President Dana White confirmed that Overeem had been removed from his fight with dos Santos and replaced by Frank Mir. One day prior to his meeting with the NSAC, Overeem released a prepared statement to the media in which he claims the positive result of the drug test came as a result of a doctor-prescribed "anti-inflammatory medication that was mixed with testosterone." Overeem's lawyer filed a continuation request for additional time to gather support for his recent claim, which was voted on by the NSAC on 24 April 2012. The request was denied and the NSAC voted unanimously to deny Overeem's application status for a period of nine months, dating back to 27 March, the day of his drug test. He was allowed to reapply after this time period in December 2012. Return Overeem returned to face Antônio Silva on 2 February 2013 at UFC 156. Leading up to the fight, Overeem was dismissive of Silva's skills, claiming he was better than his opponent in every aspect of MMA. Despite being a heavy betting favourite and having won rounds one and two, an overconfident Overeem lost to Silva by KO in the third round. Overeem was expected to face former UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior dos Santos on 25 May 2013 at UFC 160. However, in early March, Overeem pulled out of the bout, citing an injury and was replaced by Mark Hunt. For his third fight with the promotion, Overeem faced Travis Browne in the co-main event at UFC Fight Night 26 on 17 August 2013. Overeem was dominant early in the fight, attacking Browne with a flurry of knees and punches. Browne recovered and defeated Overeem via TKO with a front kick. Overeem was scheduled to face Frank Mir on 16 November 2013 at UFC 167. However, the pairing was moved to 1 February 2014 at UFC 169. He defeated Mir by unanimous decision and called