Alistair Overeem’s fighting career with Strikeforce has taken an odd turn recently. After beating Fabricio Werdum June 18th in the Heavyweight Grand Prix, the promotion wanted him to fight in the semifinals of the tournament in September. Overeem said they initially discussed an October or November date for the second fight and that he couldn’t fight in September because he needed more time to recover from injuries.
Rather than try to rearrange things, Strikeforce got an alternate to replace him. They announced on Friday night that they were cutting him. Instead of remaining silent and letting Strikeforce make him look bad, Overeem went out of his way to prove he really is hurt. He posted a video on his site shortly thereafter that shows him going to the hospital to have tests done on his chest. They revealed a fractured rib which his doctor says needs time to heal.
Now here’s where things get weird. Overeem pulled out of his Strikeforce fight because he said he needed more time. If that’s the case, why did he commit to fight in a United Glory event in the Netherlands in October? If he needs a month to heal plus two months for a proper training camp, will that leave him enough time to be ready? Not by his timeline.
Many people have speculated that Overeem is pulling a power play on Strikeforce so that he can go sign with the UFC. That doesn’t make much sense to me. He only had one fight left on his contract with Strikeforce and then he would have been able to go to the UFC hassle-free if that was his intention. Instead, this seems to be another case of Overeem just doing what he wants to do. He won’t be bossed around; he’s his own man and he makes his decisions. If he doesn’t want to fight before he’s ready, he won’t. And if he wants to fight for his trainer’s promotion in the Netherlands, he’s going to. He’s Alistair Overem and he doesn’t have to listen to anyone.
