Alistair Overeem: Junior dos Santos is afraid to fight me

This past weekend at a press conference following UFC on Fox 4, UFC President Dana White broke the news that Heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos has requested to fight Alistair Overeem instead of Cain Velasquez.

On this week’s UFC Tonight, guest host Karen Bryant conducted an exclusive interview with Overeem, where he confided that dos Santos really does not want the fight to happen at all. He accussed dos Santos of being all talk: “First he wants to fight Cain (Velasquez), now he wants to fight me. He can talk all he wants to, come in the Octagon and I will immediately say yes to that fight. Please dos Santos, come and try, give me and and give the fans what they want. He’s expecting it not to happen but i welcome it.”

When pressed by Bryant to clarify, Overeem responded: “I think he’s afraid to fight me. I think he was happy that the last fight on May 26 didn’t happen. I met him at the UFC Summit in Vegas and said, let’s do it. Let’s both prove something to the world and let’s fight. He suddenly acted like he didn’t understand English and didn’t know what I was talking about and how he wants to fight Cain first. I’m still here. The fact of the matter is I’m the number one heavyweight in the world and if he wants to be the number one heavyweight, he has to come through me. He has to fight me.”

As to the question about his ability to obtain a license to fight in Nevada late in December, when his suspension has run its course, Overeem said: “I don’t expect any problems when I appeal to the commission.”

In closing he spoke directly to dos Santos through the camera: “Give me, the UFC and the fans what they want. With a win over me you can legitimately say you’re number one. Bring it to the table my friend.”