UFC Releases Overeem

Just moments after Junior dos Santos announced he had been released by Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) after 12 years, news surfaced that fellow Heavyweight contender, Alistair Overeem, had also received his walking papers. MMA Junkie confirmed the release.

Overeem is coming off a devastating knockout loss to Alexander Volkov at UFC Vegas 18 in Feb. 2021 (see it again here). Prior to that setback, “The Reem” was on a two fight win streak thanks to a pair of technical knockout (TKO) wins over Augusto Sakai and Walt Harris. Had it not been for a last-second and controversial stoppage loss to Jairzinho Rozenstruik in Dec. 2019, Overeem would have been on a five fight win streak prior to his Volkov showdown.

“The Reem” had teased his looming retirement, but not before he made one last run at winning the UFC Heavyweight title. Since joining the promotion in Dec. 2011, Overeem racked up a 12-8 record, earning big wins over Brock Lesnar, Junior dos Santos, Mark Hunt and Fabricio Werdum, among others.

As far as where the hulking Heavyweight goes from here, he does have options. He has a huge following in Japan thanks to his days fighting for PRIDE and DREAM, so linking up with RIZIN is a possibility. He also has a good relationship with Scott Coker after fighting for Strikeforce, so Bellator MMA is a good option, as well.

Where do you think he’ll end up?