Alistair Overeem says Fedor Emelianenko turned him down three times – including for Bellator 269

According to Alistair Overeem, Fedor Emelianenko declined to face him in his return fight.

Instead, Emelianenko will be taking on Tim Johnson in the main event of Bellator 269 on Oct. 23, a decision Bellator president Scott Coker says Emelianenko made based off of rankings.

But Overeem (47-19) says Emelianenko (39-6 MMA, 3-2 BMMA) didn’t only turn him down once – he’s been trying to fight him for over a decade now.

“We tried to make a little bit that Fedor fight, and that was kind of radio silence on that end,” Overeem said on “The MMA Hour.” “But that would be something I was interested in.”

He continued, “We tried to make that fight 2010, when he fought Werdum and I fought Brett Rogers – declined. After he lost to Werdum, we tried to make that fight. He declined, and now he has declined. So that’s three declines, so I think, with all due respect, but there is no interest from that side to fight me, and I cannot blame Fedor. Listen, I’m getting a little bit older, myself. A little bit, not too much. He’s a little older than me, I think he’s 45 or 46, so I understand. But I have done everything I can do to make that fight happen – 10 years ago, but also now.”

After failed discussions with Bellator to make the Emelianenko fight happen, Overeem has moved on, but in a different direction. Though he’s not completely ruling out a return in MMA, Overeem is visiting his old stomping grounds of the kickboxing world, and the former K-1 champion will be challenging heavyweight titleholder Rico Verhoeven at “GLORY: Collision 3,” which takes place Oct. 23 at GelreDome, a 34,000-seat stadium in Arnhem, Netherlands.