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An update on Alistair Overeem’s future in the fight business
By Zach Arnold | September 11, 2009
Here is what Golden Glory has to say officially about Overeem’s upcoming future in MMA:
I talked with Bas Boon about Alistair Overeem starting his training again after his fight with 5 bouncers and his hand injury. Bas Boon told me that only a few months ago the agreement was made with Strikeforce, more then a year after Alistair became the heavyweight champion (he does not know why this offer came so late by Strikeforce). Alistair has a very good contract with FEG/K-1 and has been very busy fighting K-1 and dream fights in 2008. Strikeforce knew about this, but Alistair was allowed after negotiations, to fight in the USA as well in 2009. Unfortunately when the deal was finalized with Strikeforce we had to cancel the fight. Alistair was preparing for his first title defense for Strikeforce this summer, he sustained a very nasty infection on his hand as a result of a nightclubbrawl, were five bouncers were send to the hospital. This injury took longer as we anticipated and the result was the cancelation of two fights. The injury is healed now and the first fight of Alistair will be in Seoul against Peter Aerts for the qualification of the K-1 WGP on September 26th 2009!
I talked to Bas Boon on Friday and he said the following:
“There was never a contract after the Paul Buentello title fight. This contract came a few months before Alistair hurt his hands. So it’s not 22 months long, but only 3 months.”
Overeem gave comments to ESPN. He is expected to fight in the States in early 2010.
Topics: K-1, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 21 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
When will Alistair Overeem defend his Strikeforce Heavyweight Title? After his upcoming K-1 fight, and after another MMA fight in Holland? While he’s at it, he ought to enter the Scripps Howard Spelling Bee, or perhaps a Butter-Churning Festival & Jelly-Off (Copyright Mr. Show). What’s the rush, right?
This reminds me of the time Shawn Michaels said seven guys in Syracuse jumped him. And he couldn’t fight Bret Hart. Later Bret got on the stick and said, “there aren’t seven guys in Syracuse who could beat me up.”.
Ah remember when wrestling didn’t completely suck? It’s been a long time.
Alistair lost his smile
Alistair Overeem’s MMA career is starting to turn into the biggest joke of 2009. I have no problem with him wanting to do K-1. If that is what he prefers, he should just do it. But don’t say one thing and then do another. I’m not sure if it is the steroid testing or just being scared to lose all of his unwarranted hype, but he is avoiding better competition like the plague.
What is even more amazing is the amount of hype he has gotten off of really average wins. Beating Buentello is nothing important. And that has been his biggest MMA win in the last 3 years. And he was proven as a Light Heavyweight to have no endurance and a weaker chin that was easier to find. How all of a sudden he became “Top 10 Overeem” is just another example (in a long line of them) of how guys outside of the UFC are overhyped beyond common sense.
Here is my prediction. Overeem won’t fight in Strikeforce even as late as April 2010. It won’t be until May or beyond (if it ever happens at all).
And another point….. They need to give him a fight in American BEFORE they give him Fedor. There will be no hype for a completely unknown in a secondary organization. It will completely fall flat in the ratings.
Gotta love non-exclusive contracts!
Does it financially really make sense for Overeem to fight in Strikeforce when FEG and Holland offer him more money?
If Strikeforce need him to fight perhaps they should up their offer…
I think Overeem critisicm is blown out of proportion. You can’t blame a fighter for being injured or choosing better money in K-1. I’m sure his K-1 contract is pretty lucrative, especially after he knocked out Hari and looked impressive against Bonjasky. Why should he fight Fedor for 100k, when he probably makes twice as much in K-1.
Strikeforce should either throw good money at him, which I think he deserves or strip him of his title. It just doesn’t make any sense that they have the best HW in the world and he will not be their HW champion any time soon.
@ 45 Huddle: I’ve said this in another thread and I’ll say it again here. Who did Strikeforce have for Overeem to fight up until recently?
Werdum and Fedor only signed on in the last few months and by all accounts Alistair has only had a contract for the last three.
Now Strikeforce signs two heavyweights (and what Werdum has done to earn a title shot, even at the SF title, I don’t know) and all of a sudden Overeem is running from fights?
Who is this ‘better competition’ he’s been avoiding? Mike Kyle?
Brad;
Strikeforce also has Brett Rogers, who is a legit top ten heavyweight. And he’s deserving of a title shot because he has wins in Strikeforce. Uh…..that’s all I got for now.
@ Wolverine:
Strikeforce should either throw good money at him
I don’t even think it’s a case of money. At the end of the day it’s more benneficial for Overeem to fight on American soil to raise his profile in the US, that way he can command more $$$ when the UFC eventually comes calling.
If Strikeforce had guys for him to fight over the past 2 years, he would have fought for them.
@ Chuck: How long have they had Rogers? 3 months?
Top ten is a strech as well…I’d argue that the only reason he’s considered a legitimate contender is because of his win over AA.
It’s not like his previous win over Abongo Humphrey earned him a title shot…
Brad,
A few points.
1) Why even have a title in a division if you don’t have enough talent to keep it going?
2) After a year of inactivity, the title should have been desolved until it would be put into good use again.
3) Right now there are not many fights for Overeem outside of the UFC. However, this was not the case the last 2 years. Why sign with DREAM who has no HW Division (practically)?
And even right now, the two best pools of Heavyweight Talent are 1)UFC and 2)Strikeforce. And he isn’t exactly fighting in either of them. I know he signed a contract with Strikeforce, but he hasn’t competed against anybody. Even other fighters and media guys are questioning his “injury”.
There seems like no motivation on his part to fight the better guys in Strikeforce right now.
Like I said above, if he likes doing K-1, more power to him. But if that is the case, he needs to stop acting like a MMA fighter and stop screwing around multiple organizations that he has no care to fight better talent in (for MMA).
[…] Zach Arnold contacted Bas Boon himself to see what he could get, and got this for an answer: “There was never a contract after the Paul Buentello title fight. This contract came a few months before Alistair hurt his hands. So it’s not 22 months long, but only 3 months.” […]
I think people need to lay off Overeem and focus on Strikeforce.
Overeem has a knockout victory over one of the best kickboxers on the planet in Badr Hari and beat Remy Bonjasky but lost on the scorecards because it was K-1. He has a bright future in K-1, while in MMA his grappling is his downfall. I think if it is the best place for his career he keeps fighting for them.
The issue is he didn’t have a Strikeforce contract until his injury, and Strikeforce hasn’t contacted him to fight since he had to cancel due to injury. That show was Aug. 15 and his next fight is Sept. 26, which wasn’t announced until well after the Strikeforce card. Golden Glory is his management and gym, of course he’ll do whatever for them.
The issue here is Strikeforce needs to take action. Fedor/Rogers might as well be for the interim heavyweight title, as they don’t have a better fight they can create a heavyweight outside of Overeem/Fedor.
@ 45 Huddle
1) Why even have a title in a division if you don’t have enough talent to keep it going?
2) After a year of inactivity, the title should have been desolved until it would be put into good use again.
Completly agree…neither are Overeem\’s fault though. Strikeforce could have offered him a contract/fight at any point, but they chose not to. No point waiting around just because you hold a belt if the promoter isn\’t offering you fights…the man has to eat.
3) Right now there are not many fights for Overeem outside of the UFC. However, this was not the case the last 2 years. Why sign with DREAM who has no HW Division (practically)?
My understanding was that his contract was with FEG, not just an MMA deal with Dream. He wanted to kickbox again and signing that deal allowed him to do so whilst also haveing the option of MMA.
I know he signed a contract with Strikeforce, but he hasn’t competed against anybody. Even other fighters and media guys are questioning his “injury”.
He was offered one fight, which he couldn\’t make due to injury. I have a copy of the local Dutch paper that picked it up, Overeem was released from his cell on medical grounds, as the cut on his knuckels had been infected.
There seems like no motivation on his part to fight the better guys in Strikeforce right now.
Again, what guys? They could have offered him a fight with Rogers or Werdum to build him up for a Fedor clash, but they didn\’t. Now he has K-1 commitments, which Strikeforce were well aware of.
I don\’t see how he\’s ducking or avoiding anyone…it\’s not like he\’s taking the easy option fighting Aerts and co.
But if that is the case, he needs to stop acting like a MMA fighter and stop screwing around multiple organizations
Maybe Strikeforce should stop signing guys who have existing contracts elsewhere?
Speaking of potential future Fedor Challengers…. Jeff Monson is in the process of getting beaten by Pedro Rizzo for a 2nd time. Watching it on an online feed.
The picture quality isn’t perfect, but it would not shock me if Rizzo greased up for this fight. Everything Monson goes for has been slipping out almost too easily. At one point Rizzo was on all 4’s, and Monson went for back control. He literally slid off of him.
Why even make it an interim title? Two years? Strip him and let him fight for it whenever he’s ready to come back.
Strikeforce is in a sticky spot with it’s title situation.
What if you make Fedor vs Rogers for the belt and Fedor splits after 3 fights? You’ve also got no 185 or 205lb champs anywhere to be found. Don’t they have an interim at 155?
They should just scrap titles for right now.
And there is a rumor out there (don’t know the credibility of it), that Cung Le might be on his way to the UFC. And he is SF’s non defending Middleweight Champion.
If he does go to the UFC, he will have a hard time. And he better drop down to Welterweight, because guys like Anderson Silva are far too big for him. Wouldn’t mind seeing Le vs. GSP. GSP would beat him, but at least it is an interesting fight until another legit challenger works their way into the mix.
I hate to say it but the issue is Strikeforce’s incompetence. The issue is not with Overeem. Unless Overeem gets injured again, I’m pretty sure he’ll fight for Strikeforce the next time he’s offered a fight. Hopefully he can pass the urine test.
I would like to see Overeem somehow end up with a big fight in MMA, but honestly right now my interest is more with him fighting in K-1 against the best guys in the world during the GP. If he somehow beats Aerts (I can’t say I favor him), he’s a legit threat to go through the final 8.
Besides, Fedor’s fighting the guy I most want to see him fight in Strikeforce anyways.
[…] Overeem’s camp maintains that Alistair wasn’t under contract with Strikeforce until recently. Read more about: […]