UFC heavyweight Alistair Overeem, 40, has been fighting professionally since 1999. He got a big win over Walt Harris in the main event of UFC on ESPN 8 on Saturday night, and at the post-fight news conference, 'Reem explained what he wants next.
“We’re still hunting for the title,” said Overeem, as transcribed by Danny Segura and John Morgan for MMA Junkie.”I would say also I’m in the last phase of my career, so those two things are on my mind: Finish up the career, and one more run at the title.”
“There was definitely trouble, because I got dropped – that’s No 1. No. 2, I got cut, right? And you have a man that’s 275 standing on top of you trying to finish you. So definitely, we were in trouble. He’s very athletic, very fast, very powerful – so we were in trouble for a little bit. Fortunately, I was able to reverse the situation and get the finish.”
The title is currently held by Stipe Miocic, who isn't comfortable fighting during the COVID-19 global pandemic, and is working as a first responder. The stance has generated some criticism, but not from Overeem.
“Stipe is his own man – he makes his own decisions,” said Overeem. “You can’t go around and say he’s scared or whatever. I think that’s nonsense. He’s tough. He’s proven it over and over again. I don’t really have much to say about him.”
People are reading wayy too much into this fight. Overeem got half his fucking face ripped off the fight before. How many times has he been ktfo in the ufc alone?
Overeem is usually one jab away from being KO’ed. His chin is absolutely shot. If it’s even a glancing blow his legs go. Shocked he recovered in this fight, but knew he would fold the second anything landed.
So who does he fight next? Is Ngannou gonna wait for his title shot? He deserves it, but he probably doesn't wanna wait another year for a paycheck. So can Overeem fight him? Volkov? Blaydes? Dos Santos?
Ngannou is kind of a bad matchup for Overeem because as unpolished as he is a flailing arm punch from him puts fresh, top 10 fighters on their asses and those kinds of connections puts Overeem to sleep at this stage in his career. Overeem could fight Ngannou now and it could look like the Harris fight because he is so seasoned and skilled but it is more likely gonna look like the first time Ngannou and Overeem fought. Even when you fight well you will catch a few punches here and there and Overeem just doesn't take them well, hence his mixed results in the last years.
With his resume they might give him the title shot at any time, say Miocic and Cormier gets scheduled and Cormier gets injured 10 days out, they could sell that as long as he’s coming off a win.