Alistair Overeem: 5 Reasons He'll Never Be a UFC Champion

It was recently announced that Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem has been released by the promotion.

The exact reasons for Alistair's ejection from Strikeforce's roster has not yet been made public, but one would think that it has something to do with his withdrawal from the Strikeforce Heavyweight Gran Prix.

Overeem was supposed to meet Antonio Silva in the semi-finals of the tournament in September, but withdrew from the fight with a nagging toe injury.

Although, it's unusual that a fighter would be released from any promotion just because he got injured, so there are likely other factors in play.

Whatever the reason, Overeem is a now agree agent of sorts in the world of MMA and fans have already begun to speculate as to whether or not he'll be signed by the UFC.

For a while now, fans of the sport have wanted to see Alistair in the UFC and some have expressed the belief that he could be a champion within the promotion.

I'm here today to tell you that Alistair Overeem will probably never be a UFC champion and here's why...

Damaged Relationship with Zuffa

Strikeforce, the promotion Overeem was just ejected from, and the UFC are both companies owned by Zuffa.

Now, while I don't yet know for sure why Strikeforce parted ways with Alistair, it is assumable that they didn't leave on the best of terms. There's no way the company would part with one of the most talked about heavyweight fighters in the sport unless they had a very good reason to.

It's a well known fact that the UFC likes fighters who will play ball with them. They don't like guys with a lot of attitude or guys who make things difficult. In fact, not that long ago the UFC released up-and-coming prospect Todd Duffee, citing an attitude problem as the reason for letting him go.

Strikeforce is a much more flexible promotion than the UFC, so if Overeem couldn't make things work with them, the UFC might not even want to sign him.

Won't Be Able to Kick-Box

Aside from being a mixed martial artist, Alistair is also a very successful kick-boxer.

In 2010, he became the K-1 World Grand Prix Champion.

Strikeforce was always very lenient about allowing Overeem to compete in kickboxing, as well as other MMA promotions, but the UFC has must stricter policies about such things.

The UFC does not allow there fighters to compete for any other MMA promotions while under contract and, in most cases, doesn't allow them to compete in any other martial art tournaments.

Sometimes exceptions are made. The UFC was prepared to allow Fedor Emelianenko to compete in Sambo as part of a negotiation to sign the Russian heavyweight.

That said, if Overeem became a top contender in the UFC's heavyweight division, there is no way they would let him do kickboxing. The risk of injury would be too high.

Alistiar is the kind of fighter who likes to do things on his terms and I think the UFC telling him he can't kick-box might be a deal breaker.

Does Not Have the Heart of a Champion

To become a champion in the UFC you need incredible perseverance and the drive to compete with the best in the world.

I don't think Alistair has that quality.

Overeem held the Strikeforce heavyweight championship for four years and defended it once. His opponent was Brett Rogers, who is really only a mid-level fighter.

During this time, opponents such as Fedor Emelianenko, Andrei Arlovski, Sergei Kharitonov, Antonio Silva, Fabricio Werdum and Josh Barnett have all been looming in the background.

Instead of competing against any of those high-level fighters, Alistair has spent most of these past four years in Japan, fighting mediocre competition.

This year we finally got to see Overeem take on a top ten heavyweight in the form of Fabricio Werdum and, although he did win the fight, he looked relatively unimpressive.

'Reem was supposed to get his second taste of top competition in September by taking on Antonio Silva, but dropped out of the fight with a toe injury.

Many fans found this to be a suspicious reason to drop out of a fight, as it is a pretty regular occurrence for fighters to compete with worse injuries than a broken toe.

I'm not going to say that Alistiar is ducking Silva, but one thing is for sure: Overeem definitely could have been facing significantly better opposition over the past few years, if he wanted to.

I think Alistair is more concerned with not losing fights, than facing the best in the world and that's not the mentality to have if you want to be a UFC champion.

He Is Blatantly Overrated

A lot of people talk about Alistair as if he's some sort of world beater and he's not that.

Sure, he's been winning a lot over the past few years and a lot of those victories have been highlight reel knockouts, but does that really mean anything?

What's important is the quality of opposition he's been facing and Overeem has been fighting mostly sub-par competitors.

His only victory over a really good fighter is came over Fabricio Werdum and both fighters looked completely unimpressive in that fight.

Alistair was expected to knock Werdum out in that fight, but ended up getting beat standing up. Fabricio landed more punches than Overeem, but lost the fight because he kept flopping to his back trying to pull guard.

Compare Overeem's victory over Fabricio to Junior Dos Santos' victory over him a few years ago and then ask yourself if Alistair really has what it takes to hang with the UFC's best.

Being a K-1 Champion Means Less Than People Think

A huge part of the hype surrounding Alistair has come from his success in K-1.

Because Overeem won the K-1 2010 World Grand Prix, people actually believe that he is the best striker in the world and, standing, could demolish any MMA fighter.

The fact is, success in K-1 does not guarantee success in MMA.

When in a kickboxing match, all a striker has to worry about is kickboxing. In MMA, a striker has to worry about whether or not his opponent is going to shoot for a takedown, or pin them against the cage etc.

It's a different mind set and it effects fighters' rhythms and their mindset.

Take for example, Semmy Schilt.

Semmy is one of the greatest kickboxers of all-time and is a five-time K-1 World Grand Prix champion; when it comes to strikers, this guy is the elite of the elite.

As a mixed martial artist, however, Schilt had a pretty underwhelming career. He posted a record of 24-16-1 and never beat any elite competition. Not all of Semmy's losses came on the ground either. He was knocked out by both Gilbert Yvel and Sergei Kharintonov.

Overeem's accomplishments in K-1 are impressive, but people overvalue their relevance in MMA.