Alistair Overeem: Is He the Best Heavyweight in MMA Today?

Is Alistair Overeem the best heavyweight in the world? It is a question of hot debate and particularly relevant now that he is competing in Strikeforce's heavyweight tournament starting in February.

Overeem's career started out at 205 pounds, and towards the end, he was losing more than he was winning. Overeem explained to Mike Schiavello on "The Voice vs Overeem" he had to drop weight training cause the weight was too hard to cut, he was running a magazine and his mother was sick from cancer. Overeem's difficult run at light heavyweight ultimately lead to his decision to move up to heavyweight.

At heavyweight, Overeem lost his second fight to Sergei Kharitonov and has won nine straight with one contest against Mirko Filipovic.

As of December 2010, Overeem not only owns a Strikeforce heavyweight title and the Dream interim heavyweight title, the Dutchman also made a successful foray into the sport of kickboxing, winning the K1 World Grand Prix.

No other top heavyweights are on a nine-fight win streak, no other heavyweight owns three belts including a title in kickboxing and no heavyweight has been able to challenge the man in over three years.

So what's the debate about, Overeem is the beast heavyweight in the world right?

The critics don't seem to think so, Dana White of the UFC finds it ridiculous that people have Overeem inside the Top 10 let alone the No. 1 heavyweight in the world.

"I actually find it hilarious that he's [Alistair Overeem] is ranked in the top 10 by some of the websites. I find it hilarious. What has he done in MMA to be ranked in the top 10? I'd like somebody here to answer that question. We've got a lot of media guys here; what has Alistair Overeem done to be ranked in the top 10 of mixed martial arts' heavyweight division?" the UFC president told mmajunkie.com

It isn't exactly as simple as looking at Overeem's accomplishments so let's have a look at why there is so much debate.

Alistair Overeem's Run at Light Heavyweight Has To Mean Something

Alistair Overeem's Lowlight Reel

Despite Alistair's record of 9-0-1 over his last 10 fights, what happened to Overeem before his move up to light heavyweight has to count for something. Alistair began his mixed martial arts career going 16-3 through his first 19 fights. In Overeem's 20th fight, he met the "Iceman" himself Chuck Liddell, and although Overeem came out firing, Liddell landed some shots, and Overeem wilted under the pressure. From that point on, until Overeem's move up to heavyweight, a pattern set in for the Dutchman.

Alistair would destroy guys who weren't known as top light heavyweight fighters at the time, but as soon as the competition got tougher, Alistair would come out in exciting fashion but ultimately lost in devastating fashion. After the Liddell fight, Overeem went from being 16-3 to going 25-11 over a span of four years. His losses were to the likes of Antonio Rogerio Nogueira twice, Mauricio Rua twice, Fabricio Werdum, Ricardo Arona and Sergei Kharitonov. As you can see, Overeem wasn't losing to nobodies, but he wasn't beating the greats either. The only top ranked fighter Overeem managed to defeat during his rough patch was Vitor Belfort, and Overeem had the Brazilian's number because he beat him twice.

Of course, this happened a long time ago, and Overeem has given some valid reasons as to why he struggled so much at light heavyweight, especially towards the end. But, Overeem hasn't done what is necessary to change the naysayers' opinions just yet.

Since moving up to heavyweight, his lone loss was to Russian heavyweight kickboxer and mixed martial artist Sergei Kharitonov. Aside from the no contest with Crocop, Overeem has won 10 of his last 12 and his last loss dates back to September 2007. Why hasn't this changed the naysayers opinion? Surely, going 10-1-1 in your last 12 fights is enough to erase poor performances dating back to over three years ago right? Not so fast.

Overeem's Competition Hasn't Been Up To Snuff Since Moving to Heavyweight

Kimbo Slice defeating James Thompson

Many are probably wondering why I posted a picture of Kimbo Slice defeating James Thompson right now when I am writing about Alistair Overeem. The picture is there to illustrate the level of competition Overeem has faced since moving up to heavyweight. James Thompson fought Overeem after losing four of his last five fights and had a professional record of 14-10, nothing to write home about.

Overeem's competition since moving to heavyweight hasn't been top notch competition. To Overeem's credit, he did fight Brett Rogers who had demolished Andrei Arlovski, but with that being said, Rogers' status as a heavyweight was arguably over-inflated. Two other strong opponents include Sergei Kharitonov and Mirko CroCop, but as noted before, those fights were a loss and no contest respectively.

Overeem's biggest victory at heavyweight was against Paul Buentello. Buentello was decent and probably deserved to be in the top 10, but he was cast aside by the UFC rather quickly after losing to up-and-comer Stefan Struve and UFC gatekeeper Cheick Kongo.

A third of the guys Overeem has fought at heavyweight have losing records.

Todd Duffee, a UFC cast away who doesn't even rank inside the Top 20 generated tons of excitement when he was signed to fight Overeem at the dynamite show on December 31, 2010. The excitement was there because Duffee had gone 6-0 against subpar opponents and was dominating his seventh fight against Mike Russow until Mike landed the magic punch. People felt Overeem would win but were just excited to see Overeem fight in an MMA event.

To Overeem's credit, finding top competition hasn't always been easy; one of the main reasons Overeem fought in K1 and over in Japan was due to the fact most of the heavyweight talent in the world was in the UFC. Couple that with the fact that Fedor's management didn't want the Overeem fight last year, Werdum needed surgery and Josh Barnett was unlicensed, there wasn't much out there for Overeem.

For all intents and purposes, it is important to take note that despite the lack in competition in mixed martial arts Overeem still finished all of his opponents at heavyweight in devastating fashion, and with the exception of one fight, none have left the first round.

Overeem Maybe Isn't the Best Heavyweight, But the Potential Is There

Overeem made the Guiness Book in 2011 by Winning 3 belts

The naysayers can say what they want and there are strong arguments as to why Alistair isn't the best heavyweight out there as outlined in the earlier slides. That being said, Overeem has all the potential in the world, and he has shored up what appeared to be one of his main weaknesses.

Although kickboxing and MMA are two different sports, Alistair's ability to take punches, knees and kicks to the head and body from the world's best strikers and still win the fight wasn't always the case for Overeem. In the past, Overeem used to wilt after being hit by the best fighters in MMA, now that he is K1 champion, and he did eat some nasty strikes on his way there, it would be safe to say he isn't going to wilt as easily as he had in the past.

A testament to Alistair's potential in the sport of mixed martial arts is his diverse skill set. Alistair has 34 wins to his credit and of those 34 wins, 14 are by way of knockout, 19 by way of submission and only one decision victory to his name. Top that off with the fact he was the 2005 Abu Dhabi Combat Club European submission wrestling champ and now the current K1 kickboxing heavyweight champ, and one can clearly see that the credentials are there.

In addition to Overeem's skill set and accomplishments in MMA and other sports, look at the man's physique. Overeem was not weight lifting towards the end of his run at light heavyweight, and he was a rangy 6'5" guy lacking stamina and power. Fast forward to today, and the man is weighing in at over 260 pounds and has one of the strongest frames in the division. Overeem's stamina has yet to be tested and could still be an issue, but he isn't lacking in the power department anymore.

Looking to the future, the competition is going to get tougher for Overeem, and he will have the opportunity to shut the critics down for good.

The Future Is Looking Bright for Alistair Overeem Fans

Everyone has heard about this new Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix by now. Have a look at the brackets in the photo and look at the bracket Overeem is sitting in with Fabricio Werdum, Fedor Emelianenko and Antonio Silva.

Alistair Overeem will have the opportunity to avenge his loss against Fabricio Werdum, and if Fedor does his job and beat Antoni Silva, fight fans everywhere will be privy to one of the most highly anticipated fights in the history of the sport. If Overeem wins out in this tournament, there is no denying it, he will probably be the best heavyweight in MMA.

As it stands now, despite all the debate and the lack of quality victories, Overeem is most definitely in the Top 10. By mid to late 2011, once the Strikeforce Grand Prix has reached full circle, I wouldn't be surprised if Overeem were the one with his hand raised and with that tournament would come the title of being the best heavyweight in the sport.

In any case, as much as people judge Overeem's status as a heavyweight, the man definitely qualifies for the title of most exciting fighter. Overeem has 60 professional fights in combat sports and only eight have been decided by way of decision. Fifty-one of his 60 fights have all resulted in finishes win or lose for the Reem, and that is something any organization wants to see out of their fighters.