Strikeforce Conducting Independent Drug Testing on Main Card Friday

All ten athletes scheduled to compete on Saturday’s Strikeforce “Heavy Artillery” main card will be tested by the promotion on Friday, Strikeforce matchmaker Rich Chou told Sherdog.com.

Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, his challenger Brett Rogers, Andrei Arlovski, and Antonio Silva are among those who will be asked to submit a sample for testing.

Chou said the promotion will conduct urinalysis testing for steroids and drugs of abuse with an independent on-site technician to provide prompt results as early as Tuesday. According to Chou, the Missouri Office of Athletics, which oversees Saturday’s event, will only be conducting random post-fight testing, which led to the promotion’s decision to sweep the entire main card on its own.

Missouri commissioner Tim Leuckenoff told Sherdog.com last week that the regulatory body will test for “all illegal and unprescribed drugs.” Lueckenoff refrained from discussing who would be tested or the drug testing timetable (pre-, post-fight or both) or what type of testing will be done per the agency’s testing protocol.

Chou said any potential positive tests found in its independent screening will be addressed by the promotion and the regulatory body together.