Alistair Overeem has achieved many accolades in his storied combat sports career, but the one thing that has alluded him is a UFC title.
Overeem (46-18 MMA, 11-7 UFC) has held championships in just about every major organization, winning the K-1 Grand Prix, as well as Dream and Strikeforce heavyweight titles. He challenged UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic in 2016 but fell short in an action-packed first round, where Overeem almost got the finish before the tide turned, and he was stopped.
Since then, Overeem has alternated wins and losses but is back on track, having won three of his last four. He is coming off a second-round finish over Walt Harris in May and is looking to make one more run.
And while the UFC title would cap off an incredible journey, Overeem has a lot to celebrate in his career.
“I am very satisfied being very dedicated all my career,” Overeem told MMA Junkie. “That really gives me all the confidence. The UFC title would be the crown on that career, but I don’t know. My career has so many beautiful moments. Even the last victory was a beautiful moment. I mean, for Walt it was a little bit less nice. Even for him, I think it was – he got back in the octagon, he had a good performance, he got very close to victory and, yeah, I don’t know, just keep fighting.
“I love fighting, I love training, I love preparing for fights. I guess I’m good at it after doing it for 27 years so, yeah, just keep doing what I’m doing.”
Overeem was initially targeting a rematch with Jairzinho Rozenstruik, who he was dominating in their UFC on ESPN 7 headliner until he got caught in the last 10 seconds. But since Rozenstruik is now booked to face Junior dos Santos on Aug. 15, Overeem is happy to sit back and see how things play out.
“We’ll see what happens,” Overeem said. “I’m not really hunting; it is what it is. I’m still chilling, I’m still recovering. I just restarted training, and it will all become apparent in time. I’m not really leaning towards anybody or anything right now.
“I do want to run it back with him. I’m a little surprised we’re not running it back right now but again, it is what it is. UFC, they ultimately decide the matchups so, yeah, it’s definitely a fight that I’m looking for, but we’ll see. I’m not hunting anything. It will either happen or it won’t, and if it won’t, it’s fine.”
Overeem is targeting a return in August or September and sees himself a couple more wins away from another crack at gold.
“No opponent, top five would be nice, but one fight at a time,” Overeem said. “It will slowly move me one step towards the title. If the Rozenstruik robbery did not happen then it would have been four wins and then technically speaking, there could be an interim title fight happening now, but the Rozenstruik debacle happened. So realistically speaking, I’m thinking another one win, maybe two and then we’re right where we were: title shot.”
Alistair Overeem: UFC title would be amazing, but 'my career has so many beautiful moments'
