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« | Home | »

Alistair Overeem says Fedor’s camp doesn’t respect him at all

By Zach Arnold | February 9, 2011

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MMAFighting.com video produced by Ariel Helwani.

ARIEL HELWANI: “In 2010, you had an amazing year. You won the DREAM Heavyweight title, interim title they’re calling. The K-1 title. You defend your Strikeforce belt against Brett Rogers. But a lot of fans wanted to see you more in Strikeforce and I think a lot of them are thinking that in this… so are you going to tell us right now that you are committed 100% to fighting in Strikeforce this year?”

ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Yes I am, yes I am. I’ve been willing to fight in Strikeforce more as you may or may not know, I’ve been challenging Fedor trying to fight him for a year, year-and-a-half, he’s like The Legend, the unbeatable guy. I was hoping that I would be the first but Fabricio Werdum beat me to it. Well, after that fight, I challenged the winner which was Fabricio Werdum. He was injured. Fedor didn’t want to fight me. That’s why I went into K-1. But now I’m back and I think the Strikeforce Grand Prix is going to be a great opportunity for me to do those fights and show the MMA world that I’m number one.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “Is it true that you asked Scott Coker to be in this tournament and to get Fabricio first?”

ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Yes, definitely. He’s the winner of the Fedor fight and, if you think logically, he’s the next in line. So, I want to fight him. I want to fight the best.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “Why isn’t your belt going to be on the line when you fight him?”

ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Well it’s going to be a separate belt, it’s going to be a Grand Prix belt. So, sort of like the K-1 system and it’s not been my decision but I’m OK with it, I’m fine with it.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “Do you have any idea where that fight will take place?”

ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “No, not yet. We’re still working on a date and location. It’s probably to be April or May, one of the two.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “Any chance of Japan? We’re hearing rumors about Japan.”

ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Yeah, me too. So I’m not really sure, but you know the thing is I’m going to be ready. When Scott says, give(s) me a date, I’m going to make sure I’m ready.”

And then the focused turned to Fedor and Alistair responded with laser-like precision.

ARIEL HELWANI: “And if you beat Werdum and if Fedor beats Bigfoot Silva, you will finally get that shot. We talked to him yesterday on our show and he’s been still saying some things about you, saying that he’s very impressed with what you’ve done. He says that you’ve had a great year winning the K-1 title but he said he’s not sure how you gained so much weight last year and then he stopped short at saying more. What do you think of that?”

ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “I don’t know what to say about that. I mean, Fedor’s a mysterious guy, he doesn’t talk too much. So, for that, what I think about what he meant with that, I don’t know. You’re going to have to ask him about that.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “Do you think him and his camp respect you as a fighter?”

ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “I don’t think they respect me at all as a fighter and if you look at their actions in the last, because I judge people by their actions, if you look at their actions, all the allegations that they’ve done, they’ve declined to fight me on several occasions, twice already with the Brett Rogers fight and after. I mean, they’re full of tricks and I think people know that, they see through it. So, but not to take anything away from Fedor. Fedor’s a nice guy. I respect him as a fighter, but his management are just dickheads and they’re just using tricks.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “Do you think he’ll beat Bigfoot?”

ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Um… hard to say. Bigfoot is looking sharp. Fedor is looking sharp. I would give Fedor 60/40 because don’t count Bigfoot out. Bigfoot is a big guy and, I don’t know. It can go either way. 60/40 means a slight advantage for Fedor but 40% is still a good odd, right? It’s not that bad, it’s not like… so, 60/40 for Fedor.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “Speaking of respect, I’m wondering… I’ve never had a chance to ask you about this. Dana White, UFC President. You have a lot of respect for him, he does for you but he says you’re not Top 10 Heavyweight. What do you think of that?”

ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Well, it’s like this. I believe I am. He believes I’m not so there’s an argument there. Um… the only thing that you could say about this is I’ve not fought enough in MMA but that’s going to change, that’s going to happen this Summer in the Strikeforce Grand Prix and after this Grand Prix it’s going to be very clear who’s number one.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “So you understand kind of why he says that?”

ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Well, I understand it very well. I understand it very well.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “What do you mean by that?”

ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “Well, it’s very simple. I respect Dana. He’s entitled to his own opinion and, you know, it’s a discussion. It’s subjective. Everyone can have their own opinion. The thing is with me is that I just need to show the world by knocking out people, which is going to happen this Summer, and then it will all fall into place and I’m going to be number one.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “The winner of this tournament, will he be the number one Heavyweight in the world?”

ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “I already answered that if you listened closely.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “Right.”

ALISTAIR OVEREEM: “It’s very simple. If I would say now, I would say Cain Velasquez, you know, he’s uh… but after this tournament no doubt the tournament winner’s the number one.”

Topics: M-1, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

20 Responses to “Alistair Overeem says Fedor’s camp doesn’t respect him at all”

  1. 45 Huddle says:

    Strikeforce is in a pickle.

    Overeem vs. Fedor is really the only fight they would be willing to put on PPV. It would still likely bomb, but it’s the only fight they probably feel comfortable with enough to take that risk.

    The problem is that it’s the fight least likely to happen. If Fedor/Overeem both win….. It’s going to be a crazy time watching these two camps fight it out outside of the cage….. And not in a good way.

    • The Gaijin says:

      I disagree. This is all posturing and gamesmanship. If they both win, they’ll both fight each other. And if they keep up this type of back and forth, it may be the first time in a long time/ever (other than maybe Fedor – Cro Cop) where there is some palpable animosity between Fedor and his opponent. Bad blood like that sells.

      • Chuck says:

        The better question is……would Strikeforce be able to capitalize on said animosity? They’ve screwed the pooch on this (amongst other promoting schemes. Think of Aoki) in the past.

        • The Gaijin says:

          Good point. They’re at least showing some promise by putting this GP together and getting it to the first round without any major issues. *quickly knocks on wood*

        • Chuck says:

          But only the Arlovski/Kharitinov and Fedor/Silva fights are truly getting off the ground. There is still no guarantee that the Barnett/Rogers and the Overeem/Werdum fights are happening. And there is definitely no concrete guarantee that the Japanese card is happening. They only have until April to make it happen. I would love to see it, but we’ll see. But yeah, I do agree with you that they are showing promise with the heavyweight Grand Prix.

  2. EJ says:

    45 is right on the money, Fedor’s camp wants nothing to do with Overeem and they’ll be quick to pull a Pretty Boy Floyd if both are set to meet in the next round.

    Coker has brought this upon himself if he thinks he was being bent over the barrel before, it’s going to be worse now that M1 doesn’t even deal with him when it comes to Fedor.

    For all the crap i’ve given Overeem one thing i’ll say on his side is that finally he seems like he wants to fight top guys again. And his side isn’t the one’s pulling the type of behind the scenes bs that Fedor and his camp are trying to pull.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      There is a great post on The UG with a very detailed timeline of all the ways Fedor has ducked Overeem. If they both win, Fedor will be “injured”. Then the overbearing drug test demands as you have pointed out. It’s going to look ugly.

      The past is always the best indicator of the future. And Fedor plays games in the past. The future will be no different.

    • robthom says:

      Did you suggest that Fed is scared to fight over-rated?!

      Nah, thats crazy.
      You didn’t mean that.

      You must mean that the Fed/Finchleschtein zombie hybrid will pull another “the last princess” act after winning one fight (he’ll probably get past the inexperienced Bigfoot) just for the sake of exacting more tribute and accommodation.

      I could see that.
      And I agree that if it happens its because Coker has enabled it.

  3. 45 Huddle says:

    Speaking of guys on PED’s….. The NSAC is waiting on another sample of Thiago Silva’s. Not a shock really. The guy looked very ripped for his fight compared to normal. Another example of a guy showing easy signs of being a user.

    Question? Based on the contract language, does Zuffa have a right to terminate Brandon Vera if his loss is turned into a NC?

    • edub says:

      I’ve asked questions like this on a couple of other sites. I’m sure Zuffa does considering their contracts are favorable to their own agenda. However, does he DESERVE to be cut after losing a very controversial split decision to Randy, Getting his face broken by Jon Jones, and losing to a PED enhanced Thiago Silva?

      • robthom says:

        “…does he DESERVE to be cut…”

        Yes.

        He DESERVED to be cut a LONG time ago.

        I was really looking forward to a Thiago/jackson scramble.

        I dont think it will be a Evans/jackson rematch though.
        If I recall correctly Dana wasn’t to fond of the first one just like most people.

    • Mr. Roadblock says:

      Zuffa can terminate a contract coming off a win. The deals are completely one sided in their favor.

      The reason they cut guys off loses is to save money. Since many of the deals increase the amount of money paid for each fight.

  4. Isaiah says:

    Gotta say that it’s pretty amazing that adults think that Fedor or his management are afraid of fighting anyone. I think that nonsense started when the first UFC negotiations failed and “someone” leaked that one of M-1’s demands were that they didn’t want Fedor fighting Tim Sylvia.

  5. Zach Arnold says:

    45 & Gaijin – if you can send me an e-mail at [email protected], I’ll reply back with some thoughts on something you asked about. It’ll be worth the trouble. Thanks.

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