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Alistair Overeem, left, and Frank Mir laugh during a news conference Tuesday, March 27, 2012 to advance the all heavyweight card at UFC 146.
Friday, April 20, 2012 | 9:40 p.m.
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Next month’s UFC 146 received a major makeover on the eve of UFC 145.
UFC President Dana White announced via Twitter that Las Vegas fighter Frank Mir would step in to face Junior dos Santos for the heavyweight championship on May 26 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Mir replaces Alistair Overeem, who failed a random drug test at a press conference last month. Overeem is scheduled to go in front of the Nevada State Athletic Commission Tuesday morning to apply for a license, but the UFC isn’t willing to wait to see what happens.
The 32-year old Mir is on a three-fight winning streak in his bid to reclaim the title. Mir has held the heavyweight belt twice previously in his career.
“It is dream of mine to become the first three-time heavyweight champion in the UFC,” Mir said in a release when news of Overeem’s drug test spread.
The UFC had scheduled Mir for a title eliminator against Cain Velasquez in the co-main event of UFC 146. White didn’t reveal a replacement opponent for Velasquez or if the former champion would stay on the card.
Velasquez, who is in Atlanta for UFC 145, said earlier this week that he wouldn’t mind if Mir moved up to fight dos Santos.
“I definitely think that's fair,” Velasquez said. “He's coming off of a three-fight winning streak ... If they lift him up, then yeah, I'd definitely be fine with that."
Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or case.keefer@lasvegassun.com. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
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