Valentijn Overeem, older brother of UFC Heavyweight #1 contender Alistair Overeem, has expressed "surprise" that his younger brother would need testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) in a recent interview. The elder Overeem, who has been fighting pro MMA since 1996, expressed his conviction that if his younger brother indeed required TRT for medical reasons that he would be aware of the issue.

The question arose because of rampant speculation that Overeem, who failed a surprise urine test following a UFC 146 press conference in Las Vegas hasn't requested that his "B" sample be tested and is expected to present a TRT defense and request a therapeutic use exemption before the Nevada State Athletic C0mmission on April 24th.

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Alistair Overeem is booked to challenge UFC champ Junior dos Santos at UFC 146 on May 26th but must first be licensed by the NSAC.

Valentijn Overeem has been fighting in Europe this year since being cut by Strikeforce following a June 2011 loss to Chad Griggs. He does not seem to be intimately involved in his brother's legal defense or appeal to the NSAC. His full quote is after the jump.

More SBN coverage of UFC 146

In an interview with MMA Junkie Valentijn Overeem said, "Because I know him so well that I think I should be aware of something like that. If that was the case, I think I would know. I would be surprised.

"There are different reasons why someone could have high testosterone," Valentijn Overeem said. "Taking steroids is one of them. Some people have natural testosterone at a high level anyway. I'm not saying my brother is one of those people, but there's more possibilities. If the [athletic commission] tests the sample again, just to make sure there were no mistakes, I think that would be a good start."