Alistair Overeem has more than two decades of experience in combat sports, and he plans to keep clocking in time for his storied career.
The former Strikeforce and Dream heavyweight champion returns to the cage Saturday in the main event of UFC on ESPN 8, which takes place at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla. Overeem (45-18 MMA, 10-7 UFC) takes on Walk Harris in a five-round contest.
Despite having 64 MMA and 14 kickboxing bouts under his belt, “The Demolition Man” still remains in love with the fight game.
“I’ve been doing it for a long time, but I love the lifestyle. I love improving my game, and a fight is always a test, and you build off that,” Overeem said Thursday during a virtual media day. “Also, what other thing to do but fight? I mean, I really enjoy going to the gym, improving my game and helping my teammates. That’s something I can see myself doing, becoming a coach, passing on the knowledge, but not yet. I’m still in the peak, so I just need to keep going.”
Overeem is coming off a knockout loss to Jairzinho Rozenstruik back in December, but prior to that he was on a two-fight winning streak. In the defeat to Rozenstruik, Overeem was winning the fight until he got knocked out in the final 10 seconds of Round 5.
Overeem still thinks the stoppage was premature, but he doesn’t view the loss as a big setback. The 39-year-old still has title contention in mind but wants to take things a step at a time.
“In my opinion, I had two wins and then in my last fight, the Rozenstruik thing, in my opinion, I got cheated by the ref,” Overeem said. “Perfect performance. I was proud of it, but I think let’s just take it easy, let’s just cruise control and get this victory, and we’ll figure it out from there.”
If victorious, Overeem plans to compete again in 2020 sometime in the fall.
When asked about the matchup itself, Overeem can’t wait to share the octagon with Harris, and he laments Harris’ recent tragedy coping with the murder of his kidnapped stepdaughter.
“Walt is good, strong guy, athletic guy, someone who prefers striking, and I like striking,” Overeem said. “So I think the matchup is better for the fans, and yeah it was very unfortunate what happened with his daughter situation, very terrible. Can’t imagine being a dad myself, so to me it was not a shock that he pulled out of the fight. It’s a natural thing, and now we’re back on, so now it’s all good. There’s no rivalry. I like him as a person, and we’re just going to make it a great fight for the fans worldwide.”
Sixty-four fights in, Alistair Overeem's career drive remains strong: 'I'm still in the peak'