#6
Alistair Overeem (Strikeforce Champion)
Record: 34-11-1
Age: 30
Height: 6 ft 5 in
Weight: 265 lb
Fighting out of: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Style: Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Submission Grappling
Age: 30
Height: 6 ft 5 in
Weight: 265 lb
Fighting out of: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Style: Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Submission Grappling
Overeem had his first MMA professional fight at 19 years old, defeating Ricardo Fyeet by guillotine choke submission on October 24, 1999 at It's Showtime, the first event of the eponymously named promotion.[10][14]
After posting a 10-3 record in promotions such as RINGS, Overeem debuted in PRIDE on July 20, 2002, defeating Yusuke Imamura by TKO in just 45 seconds. Overeem would win two more fights in PRIDE before entering the 2003 PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix at PRIDE Total Elimination 2003 and losing to future UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell in the quarterfinal match. Overeem rebounded to defeat Tomohiko Hashimoto at the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003-Inoki Festival in 36 seconds. On October 31, 2004 he fought Hiromitsu Kanehara, defeating him by TKO part-way through the first round at PRIDE 28 - High Octane. He lost his next fight against Brazilian Top Team fighter Antônio Rogério Nogueira. In 2005, Overeem entered the PRIDE Middle Weight Grand Prix at PRIDE Total Elimination 2005 where he defeated former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort by submission in the opening round. Overeem would move on to fight Igor Vovchanchyn in the quarterfinals at PRIDE Critical Countdown 2005 taking under two minutes to win by submission. Overeem lost in the semi-finals to eventual champion Mauricio Rua.
In February 2006, Overeem fought Russian Top Team favorite Sergei Kharitonov. Overeem won the fight, dislocating Kharitonov's shoulder in the process. With his win over Kharitonov, Overeem secured a spot in the PRIDE 2006 Open Weight Grand Prix at PRIDE Total Elimination Absolute. He fought Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist Fabricio Werdum, losing via kimura in the second round.
After his loss, Overeem traveled to San Jose, California to rematch Vitor Belfort at Strikeforce: Revenge. Despite being the main event, Overeem pulled out a decision win in a lackluster fight. A month later Overeem returned to PRIDE for a highly anticipated rematch with Antônio Rogério Nogueira. Overeem entered the fight with a heavily taped neck. After controlling the first round and a half with his striking, Overeem was stumbled from a punch, Nogueira followed with a flurry of strikes. Worried Overeem would be more severely injured, his corner threw in the towel.
At PRIDE Final Conflict Absolute, he lost to Ricardo Arona. Overeem was on the receiving end of a leg kick that caused a non-serious injury to his nerves, causing him to lose feeling in his foot and leg. Unable to mount an offense or defend against Arona, Overeem tapped out to avoid further injury.
He then suffered another KO loss to Mauricio Rua at Pride 33, but returned in June 2007 with a submission win over Michael Knaap at K-1 Grand Prix in Amsterdam (despite K-1 being a kickboxing promotion, the bout was fought under MMA rules).
On September 17, 2007, at K-1 Hero's Middleweight GP Final Alistair faced Sergei Kharitonov again. Overeem showed solid movement as soon as the first round began, but he suffered a KO loss just before the end of the first round.
On November 16, 2007, Overeem defeated Paul Buentello for the vacant Strikeforce heavyweight title by submission due to knee strikes.[15]
On June 15, 2008 Overeem won by KO in the first round against Lee Tae-Hyun at DREAM.4. On July 21, 2008, Overeem defeated K-1 World Grand Prix 2001 champion Mark Hunt in the first round by submission at DREAM.5.
His next fight was against Mirko Filipović at DREAM.6 on September 23, 2008.[16] After almost half of the first round which saw Overeem taking down Filipovic multiple times and effectively striking from the top position, cutting his Croatian foe, the bout was stopped and declared a no contest due to Alistair landing multiple knees to the groin of Filipovic.
In a 2008 interview, Overeem has stated that he would like to fight in the UFC in the near future. Overeem would ideally like a rematch with Chuck Liddell to avenge his PRIDE Total Elimination 2003 knockout loss and Mirko Cro Cop to avenge his disappointing no-contest in Dream. Overeem was also seen at UFC 93 in Ireland talking to Dana White and indicating he is "ready" to fight in the UFC.
Overeem was rumored to make his first title defense against Heavyweight Brett Rogers on June 6 at Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields, however a hand injury scuttled plans for the fight.[17] According to Golden Glory manager Bas Boon, Overeem had suffered a hand infection following a nightclub brawl early May 2009. According to Boon, Alistair and his brother Valentijn - both heavyweights - had been involved in an altercation that left five security staff needing hospital treatment and nearly cost Alistair his hand.
Overeem was scheduled to make his first Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship defense in a rematch against Fabricio Werdum at Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg, but had to pull out due to a hand injury, most likely caused from his nightclub brawl.
Alistair defeated Tony Sylvester at Golden Glory's 10 year anniversary celebration with a standing guillotine choke.[18] He used the same choke only 8 days later to submit MMA journeyman James Thompson at DREAM.12.[19]
Overeem has stated that he wants a rubber match with Badr Hari, only this time in an MMA bout.[20]
Overeem was set to face Andrei Arlovski at Dynamite!! 2009 but FEG instead opted to have him face, Kazuyuki Fujita to keep with the DREAM Vs. Sengoku theme.[21] Overeem quickly overpowered his opponent and recorded a knockout with a knee to the head.
Overeem then faced Brett Rogers on May 15, 2010 at Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery to defend his Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship.[22] He won the fight via TKO (punches) in the first round. In his post-fight interview, Alistair Overeem declared for another time that he wants to fight Fedor Emelianenko, claiming that Fedor's management can no longer ignore his presence.[23] The majority of Alistair Overeem's pre-fight training camp took place at the newly opened Golden Glory Gym in Pattaya, Thailand, where "The Demolition Man" concentrated on the further improvement of his Muay Thai skills.[24]
Overeem faced Todd Duffee on December 31, 2010 at Dynamite!! 2010.[25] Overeem defeated Duffee by way of knockout at 19 seconds of the very first round to win the DREAM Interim Heavyweight Championship.[26]
A rematch with Fabricio Werdum is expected to take place on June 18, 2011, at Strikeforce: Dallas and will be part of an eight-man heavyweight tournament.[27]
