Strikeforce Threatens To Remove Alistair Overeem from Heavyweight Grand Prix

Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem made headlines last week with his comments about a potential boxing match with Vitali Klitschko. 

“The Demolition Man” is in the news again since Strikeforce has threatened to remove him from their Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament. 

Overeem was a guest on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, and MMA Fighting transcribed some of the interesting comments “The Reem” had regarding his next fight.

“This is not going to take place,” Overeem said, in regards to a proposed September 10 fight with Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva. 

This would be a semifinal match within the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix.

“Strikeforce has requested me to accept a fight on Sept 10, to agree on that, but I have not agreed on it,” Overeem explained, also saying that he found out through email that many people thought this fight was already a done deal.

According to Overeem, he agreed to fight Silva in October, citing that he needed some time to recover from his June fight with Fabricio Werdum, as well as time to train and plan for his fight with Silva.

While Werdum’s bout with Overeem did not look like a particularly physical battle by most spectators, The Reem indicated that that he entered the fight with a broken toe.

Needless to say, the higher-ups at Strikeforce were not very happy with their heavyweight champion’s lack of cooperation.

“What’s going to happen next, I don’t know. I’ve had some threats of cutting me out of the tournament if I don’t participate. I don’t know if they’re going to do it,” Overeem said.

Overeem said that he is really not sure if Strikeforce is serious or not about removing him from the tournament, but he was clear that he does not care either way.

“Personally, I don’t like to be threatened," he said. "If people start talking like that then…be my guest, but I’m really not going to sing their tune.”

Easily one of Strikeforce’s most recognizable stars, Overeem said that he has not spoken directly to anyone from either Zuffa of Strikeforce.

Instead, he noted that his management has dealt with negotiations since he has “too short of a temper for people who can be disrespectful.”

Explaining what he meant by that, Overeem said:

“For them to ultimately declare, okay, (September 10) is going to be the second round, which I never agreed on, and then threaten me if I don’t want to do it…it doesn’t show a lot of respect.”

Then, Overeem hinted that he has lost some fights in the past by not giving himself adequate time to prepare.

“The fights I’ve lost–I’m not the guy going for excuses–I blame myself. This is where the decision is coming from. I don’t want to blame myself.”

“What I do is I [do] my homework, I make sure everything is perfect, and then I fight,” Overeem explained.

The Demolition Man also said that he is fully invested in fighting in October, but whether or not that is for Strikeforce is for them to decide.

Overeem reminded Helwani that his contract allows him to fight for other promotions, and that he would be happy to fight a K-1 bout if negotiations with Strikeforce fall through.

The reigning Strikeforce 265-pound title holder summed this up by saying:

“I’m a fighter who likes to fight. I love to be very active. I’m going to fight [in] October regardless.

“If it’s not going to be for Strikeforce, then I’ll fight somewhere else.”

Since the last time Overeem lost, suffering a knockout at the hands of fellow Grand Prix participant Sergei Kharitonov in September of 2007, Overeem has fought 11 MMA fights and 10 kickboxing bouts. 

Therefore, his comments that he likes to stay active seem warranted, however, his critics remain over the fact that he has only defended his Strikeforce title once since winning the belt in November of 2007. 

That lone defense came in May of 2010, where Overeem easily defeated Brett Rogers by TKO in the first round.