UFC Fight Future: What Does It Mean If Alistair Overeem Is Exclusive to the UFC?

He's the former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, the current DREAM and K-1 Heavyweight Champion, and in the minds of some, he's the best Heavyweight in the world...or at least the best one not named Cain Velasquez or Junior Dos Santos.

He's been the subject of some controversy as of late, due to the allegations of Team Golden Glory requesting that Zuffa/UFC officials pay the managers.

However, Golden Glory's Bas Boon spoke to MMA Junkie and expressed his hopefulness towards a deal that would have Overeem play the game, so to speak, with Zuffa.

It will be worth money, even if the amount is not known, but it's a mystery if The Demolition Man will be thrown to the lions from the onset, or if he will have to work his way from the preliminaries to the main card as if he were just starting out in MMA.

In either case, the main question we're all asking is this:

If Alistair Overeem does sign with the UFC, what will it mean if the demolition doesn't leave Zuffa?

The Demolition Ends in DREAM, and for DREAM, It Might Be the End

Back when Strikeforce was still competition to the UFC, Overeem was allowed to hop around and fight in the Japanese circuit--specifically for DREAM and K-1.

He won the Heavyweight title in DREAM this past Winter against Todd Duffee, although he is only listed as the Interim DREAM Heavyweight Champ, and has not fought for DREAM since.

We all know Dana White & Co. are well known for wanting their roster to be exclusive to the UFC, aside from Joe Doerksen and others who did take a fight outside the UFC while still being under UFC contract.

If The Reem does decide to make his path of demolition exclusive to the UFC Heavyweight division, doing so means he has to let go of the DREAM Heavyweight title.

None for nothing, but who exactly wanted enough of Reem to call him out for the DREAM Heavyweight belt?

Exactly.

The Demolition Ends in K-1

There's three things you need to know about "The Golden Boy" Badr Hari:

1. He's a bad ass.

2. He knocks motherf**kers out because they want to knock him the f**k out.

3. His record against guys named Alistair Overeem stands at 1-1-0.

Now why would a K-1 name matter when the subject of this slideshow is Alistair Overeem and not Badr Hari?

Because Overeem defeated the great Peter Aerts in last years K-1 Heavyweight Grand Prix final in order to become K-1 Heavyweight GP Champion, and the first fighter to hold a major American MMA Heavyweight title, a major Japanese MMA Heavyweight title, and a pro Kickboxing Heavyweight title simultaneously.

However, he did that while under his Strikeforce contract, and it was around that time when Dana White started talking about The Reem.

Just like with DREAM, The Reem being a UFC exclusive means K-1 has to hold another Grand Prix to decide a brand new champion?

Reem sure can't do it, unless he remains a free agent or signs exclusively with DREAM.

"This Check Made Payable To: Alistair Overeem"

Do you really want to hear the same old s**t about the Golden Glory-Zuffa thing?

The Reem got released from the UFC, and the cuts of Marloes Coenen, Jon Einemo and Valentijn Overeem followed.

The release of Valentijn was probably unsurprising, unless you bet your house on him becoming the best pound-for-pound Heavyweight by the end of 2011, but Coenen's release was initially a shock considering she had just come off a loss to Miesha Tate (never mind Dana's stance on women's MMA).

Einemo put on one of the best fights of 2011 in the UFC Heavyweight division despite losing to Dave Herman, and a few fairweathers who initially thought Einemo should've stayed signed anyway quickly turned on the man once hearing of their release.

The same thing happened with Alistair, who quickly lost some fans inexplicably after being released.

However, the main issue was the allegations of Golden Glory officials not named Bas Boon wanting to have the checks made payable to Golden Glory for tax purposes as well as management payment purposes.

We all know that in the Stateside pro circuit, the management doesn't get paid through the organization.

The organization pays the fighters, and then the fighters pay their management teams.

In the equation of UFC business as it pertained to Alistair Overeem, exclusivity will have to equal Team Golden Glory's willingness to have the UFC pay Overeem directly.

Not that I personally think they did (thanks, Marloes Coenen), but if they did, playing the game might help for a short while.

No Chance of Golden Glory Staying out of the UFC, Anyway

If you take Marloes Coenen, Jon Einemo, and Valentijn Overeem out of the equation, is there really any reason to think Golden Glory won't make its mark in the UFC besides possibly having Overeem exclusively anyway?

They've already had Semmy Schilt (1-0 UFC, by the way), they may do well financially to get Siyar Bahadurzada, they could potentially have Sergei Kharitonov and Gegard Mousasi when Strikeforce gets absorbed by the UFC, and it won't be long before Golden Glory starts training and preparing more and more of this sport's top prospects.

Yes, the team is predominantly kickboxers and is more of a top team in Kickboxing circles than in MMA circles, but in MMA circles, a team mostly comprised of Kickboxers translates into a team that knows world-class striking.

Is a team like that really worth keeping out?

Not even Dana White thinks so.

The Best in the World Must Beat the Best in the World to Earn His Title

I predicted that Cain Velasquez's bout with Junior Dos Santos would be immortal, and I stand by that.

However, the UFC Heavyweight Champion, whomever it may be after UFC 139, will not be out of the woods yet.

Somewhere down the line, it could be Overeem that they wind up defending against, but it won't be easy on both ends--especially on Overeem's end.

If he signs onto the UFC roster, he's not getting a Brett Rogers or a Fabricio Werdum, Version 2011.0.

Stefan Struve, Travis Browne, Matt Mitrione, Pat Barry, Cheick Kongo, Frank Mir, Roy Nelson, Brendan Schaub--all of these names and more are hungry to prove that they are the best Heavyweight fighter in the world, and all of these names are going to pose as a roadblock for Alistair Overeem's hunt for the UFC Heavyweight title.

If Alistair keeps his services towards "the company with the 'best' fighters and fights in the world," it's unlikely that he will have any reservations about blasting through the division and earning his spot as pound-for-pound the best Heavyweight in the world, period.

Dale De Souza is a Man on Fire—or as the regulars of MMA writing call it, a “Featured Columnist"—for Bleacher Report MMA, and the trail he has blazed in the MMA World refuses to be extinguished as long as combat sports exist in the world.

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