Alistair Overeem Almost Didn’t Compete At UFC 209
UFC 209 almost lost another pivotal match-up last night (Sat. March 4, 2017).
Yesterday’s pay-per-view (PPV) main card kicked off with a massive heavyweight clash between No. 3-ranked Alistair Overeem and No. 8-ranked Mark Hunt. Overeem was able to score a massive third-round knockout win over ‘The Super Samoan’, but according to Dana White, the former heavyweight title challenger almost didn’t make it to the Octagon.
White crashed Overeem’s post-fight presser segment to throw praise on ‘The Reem’ for powering through a case of food poisoning and following through on his word to compete on the already injury-riddled card (quotes via MMA Fighting):
“Did you know that he was sick,” White said, taking the microphone from Overeem. “So, he’s been in the hospital for 24 hours. Food poisoning. Throwing up and all the other pleasantries of food poisoning for 24 hours. He was in the hospital, brought him home, and we had to bring him back to the hospital. They had to fill him with bags of fluids, and IVs, and at one point he was afraid to leave his room because he couldn’t stop throwing up and everything else.
“[He] did not want to turn down the fight. [He] still came out and fought tonight and knocked out Mark Hunt. So, and more to his credit, didn’t say one word about it in his interview, and obviously hasn’t said it here yet. I just came in to thank him and tell him how much I respect him.”
Overeem revealed he was given an IV at a local hospital to treat his condition, and took the necessary steps to get cleared for competition by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA):
“So, we went through all the steps necessary,” he said. “I got really sick. Yesterday at the weigh-ins I was out. I was like low energy. I mean, I put on my acting face looking angry, but I had zero energy, and if i felt today as I did yesterday I would not have been able to perform. But, I went to the hospital, got an IV, slept very good, took something to help me sleep. I could get some food in yesterday even before sleeping and recovered kind of okay, and [thought] yeah, we’re going to go for it. We’re going to do this.”
