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View Full Version : Alistair Overeem explains Dream absence, hints at K-1 return



Harrie Nak
19-07-2010, 23:28
During a conversation with Ariel Helwani on Monday's episode of "The MMA Hour," Alistair Overeem did his best to clear up the confusion surrounding his decision not to participate in a bout against Ricco Rodriguez at Dream.15.

To hear Overeem tell it, it wasn't simply a case of him not wanting to take the risk, as Rodriguez suggested. Instead, miscommunication about whether the scrap would be a title fight was mostly to blame, he said. That, combined with fatigue from a busy year for the Strikeforce heavyweight champ and some flagging motivation at the thought of facing an unranked opponent with no hardware at stake, prompted him to pull out of the fight well in advance.

"I did eight fights in eight months," Overeem said. "There's a max, you know. So I needed to take time off and let my body recover, and what happened was, I'd just got back from the states and my management already told me, 'Yeah, you have a fight coming up in Dream.15, they want you.' I told them, I'm tired. I need a holiday. The only reason for me to recharge and go back into training camp is if it's for the title. That's an opportunity I don't want to go to waste.

"A couple days later my management confirmed the fight, it was going to be for the title, against Andrei Arlovski. Well, what happened then was I was totally motivated, got my team back together, my sparring partners, got back into camp, and then after two week I heard that Andrei Arlovski is injured, he's not fighting."

Overeem said a number of replacement fighters were mentioned, including former UFC heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia, and he was assured that the fight would still be for a title.

"I asked on several occasions, is this for the title and is it confirmed? My management said yes, it's for the title and it's confirmed. So I kept training. Two and a half weeks into training...my management called me and told it's going to be Ricco Rodriguez and it will not be for the title. Then my motivation just totally was lost. I could still make it to see the Fedor fight, so I said, yeah, I'm going to go to the states and I'm going to challenge Fedor, the winner of the fight between Fedor and Fabricio Werdum. I cancelled the fight then and there."

Only several weeks later did he learn that Dream was still promoting his appearance as part of the event, and that Rodriguez had already left for Japan under the assumption that he'd be facing Overeem at Dream.15.

"I was like, wait a minute, I cancelled the fight," Overeem said. "Let's put out a press release so that everybody knows I'm not fighting. For the fans, for Ricco, for anybody that shows up, I'm not going to be there. ...It's the proper thing to do, I think."

Overeem also said that he's "undecided" about where his next fight will take place, but hinted that he may be interested in returning to K-1 this fall.

"You also have the K-1 Final Grand Prix at the end of the year. ...I have qualified for the final 16. I'm not entirely sure if I'm going to compete, but I would like to compete. K-1 is striking, I like it, it has a little bit different audience. It's very popular in Holland. So yeah, I want to become champion. I see myself as champion."

Overeem reiterated that he's not sure if K-1 will take precedence over his MMA career, but said his dream is to become a K-1 champion as well as an MMA champ.

"That would be legendary. No other fighter has ever done that."The MMA Hour Live Featuring Charlie Brenneman, Alistair Overeem, Mo Lawal -- MMA Fighting (http://www.mmafighting.com/2010/07/19/the-mma-hour-live-featuring-charlie-brenneman-mo-lawal-tim-ken/)

Naj85
20-07-2010, 00:59
Ik hoop dat hij er bij is dit jaar bij de K1, anders is het niks aan!
Hari en Bonjasky ook al niet, wie kan Schilt dan nog verslaan?
IMO is Overeem de man die dat kan en hij wordt dit jaar de K1 kampioen!

Hendy
20-07-2010, 18:53
Ik hoop dat hij er bij is dit jaar bij de K1, anders is het niks aan!
Hari en Bonjasky ook al niet, wie kan Schilt dan nog verslaan?
IMO is Overeem de man die dat kan en hij wordt dit jaar de K1 kampioen!

Mee eens.. maar Hari zal toch wel bij zijn!?

Rougemonkey
20-07-2010, 19:00
Hari zit dan helaas waarschijnlijk in Marokko, of in de bajes.

Ger Maan
21-07-2010, 15:16
Bij deze beeld en (slecht) geluid.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Azth3btumw


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW6SdZgHJAM

Michael.M.
21-07-2010, 15:39
Als ze bij Strikerforce toch geen tegenstander vinden voor Overeem, omdat nu Werdum geblesseerd is en niet wil vechten tegen hem, omdat Fedor hem ook al ontwijkt ( hij of zijn management allesinds), dan schiet er nog bigfoot Silva over sjah kijk ik persoonlijk niet naar uit dan schiet er niet veel over kan hij het weer proberen in het K-1 circuit.
Gewoon hopen dat Dana White is met een contract op de proppen komt.

Ik denk dat hij een uitstekende kans makt om de k-1 world gp te winnen.
Mocht Badr Hari tegen dan terug in de ring staan zie ik 3 tittelkandidaten zoniet gaat het tussen Overeem en Schilt, de rest schiet tekort.

Mattie73
21-07-2010, 19:54
Ik denk dat hij een uitstekende kans makt om de k-1 world gp te winnen.
Mocht Badr Hari tegen dan terug in de ring staan zie ik 3 tittelkandidaten zoniet gaat het tussen Overeem en Schilt, de rest schiet tekort.

X2

TOON
21-07-2010, 19:54
logisch verhaal....snap het zeker van Overeems kant....
begrijpelijk dat ie wel wat uitdaging nodig heeft om zich op te kunnen laden....geen werdum en fedor...tja op zo'n moment mis je dus een competitie zoals ie in de UFC zit....daar hebben ze altijd wel een uitdaging voor je klaar staan...

Anderson
21-07-2010, 22:27
Wat een tjappie, zeg het gewoon "de jongens die mij aan kunnen zijn er dit jaar niet bij in de k1". Ga niet met smoesjes strooien er zijn geen tegenstanders voor me in de mma.