Photo via PJ Roca/ Glory/ Lana/ Jon Martone
Alistair Overeem on Badr Hari trilogy and MMA farewell
Alistair Overeem tests skills with Badr Hari in a high-stakes trilogy bout at Glory Collision 4 on October 8th.
Overeem appeared on Bowks Talking Bouts and we discussed consuming towers of sushi, the plan for the final stretch of a career that has spanned four decades, and more. Excerpts from our chat are below.
Alistair Overeem
Linking up with the old K-1 crew from 2010 for this return to kickboxing
“So I’ve been fighting K-1 since 2008. Actually, my reintroduction into K-1 was against Badr (Hari). 2008, the Dynamite New Years’ Eve show going into 2009. That fight literally propelled me into the Grand Prix in 2009 where we had the rematch. Once you’ve done one K-1 Grand Prix, you kind of get the hang of it. It’s cool, it’s like tournament style, a lot of media attention, the fans are awesome.”
“You have these big sold-out stadiums, 50-60 thousand people, millions of home viewers. We didn’t make it the first K-1 Grand Prix. We got actually eliminated by Badr in the rematch. So that was the rematch between me and Badr. So now we’re 1-1. But that did prompt me to fight again in the grand prix in 2010 and then I won it. So all good memories and back to your original question, the crew that I won the K-1 2010 Grand Prix with, Cor Hemmers.”
“So that’s the famed father of Ramon Dekkers, big kickboxing legend. Go on YouTube, check him out. Ramon Dekkers, he’s been amazing, fighting for what is it, 25-30 years. A lot of fights in Thailand, over two hundred fights… Yeah, that’s basically, my crew, my posse. Linked up with them after UFC. Striking is their thing, high-level striking. We’ve just been rocking ever since.”
Glory Collision 4
What an MMA swan song could look like for Overeem
“Rizin would be nice. So we’re going to look at the options, right. Because it depends on what is there. I don’t know what Rizin is doing these days. I do believe that the Japanese MMA market is not that active. It might as well be ONE FC or it might as well be KSW. Bellator, also an option. So there’s options. It’s all about what are the details, what are we getting ourselves into? We’ll be looking at all the factors, all the facets, and then we’ll make a clear-cut decision.”
If Overeem will make his pro wrestling debut in 2022 after a pair of event cancellations in that lane
“I do not think so. That actually was an appearance-based thing and it kind of fell through. So I don’t know what’s going on on that front. To be honest, it was kind of an interest for a while. But I don’t see my future there. Even though the world is interesting and it has its kinks, I don’t see my future there. But who knows, right?”
