Alistair Overeem Welcomes All Comers For Next Opponent

UFC heavyweight Alistair Overeem continued his rocky road in the big leagues this past September 5th, and he was the victim of a “Big” Ben Rothwell knockout at UFC Fight Night 50. The loss marked the third in his last four, all by knockout, and his ninth career loss by T/KO. Heading in to his clash with Rothwell, the former Strikeforce and K-1 champion was a heavy favorite.

Although the UFC will keep him on board for now, it is clearly do-or-die time for the giant Dutchman. Speaking with MMAFighting.com, “The Reem” discussed the loss against Rothwell and more:

“The fight was not good, it was terrible. It’s such a shame, because I was in good shape. It can all be over at heavyweight with one mistake. I’m disappointed in the result of the fight, but I’m in a great place. I’ve found myself at Greg Jackson‘s, and I know the results of my training will come out next time. We all knew Ben has hard hands, I thought I disabled his arm and I didn’t expect him to punch with it. I didn’t expect it to come from that angle.”

The lesson learned here is that you should never make assumptions in a fight. Overeem believed he had broken Rothwell’s arm and that he could relax his defense a little. Unfortunately for him, that decision came back to bite him in the ass in a big way. Overeem continues:

“I should have been more careful. He’s a tough guy with hard hands. I saw the video (of him dancing), he won, congratulations he can make some noise. But if you lose you have to shut up. This was a tough loss because I was in great shape, had a great camp. If you aren’t prepared to lose then you shouldn’t fight anyway. I’ve been training for 20 years now, I’m 34 and I have a couple good years left in me. Everything at Jackson’s is great.”

So we’ll expect a much more educated performance next time out by the sounds of it, Overeem then spoke about the injury that Jon Jones suffered in the gym at Greg Jackson’s:

“It is what it is, he was warming up with me. It wasn’t intentional, it was just an accident you know. No hard feelings, and I felt terrible about it. I was really looking forward to his fight with Daniel Cormier too, so it sucks. In regards to Dana White-To my knowledge there is nothing going on, nothing wrong. I want to return as soon as possible, if it’s up to me this year. It’s up to the UFC who I fight, I’m open. I’m focused, anybody is welcome”

One suggestion I have for Overeem’s next fight a rematch with Antonio Silva. “Bigfoot” got wiped out by “The Reem’s” team mate Andrei Arlovski at UFC Fight Night 51 this past Saturday (Sept. 13th), and perhaps this would be a chance for the Dutch kickboxer to wipe out the memories of his 2013 UFC 156 KO loss against Silva. We’ll see how it all plays out, but it won’t look good for his UFC prospects if he is unsuccessful again.

Anyone that you’d like to see as Overeem’s next opponent?