Overeem Tells His Side Of Being Out Of The Grand Prix
Added on Jul 20, 2011 by John Petit in
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Two days ago Strikeforce Heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem went on a podcast, and said the Zuffa wanted him to fight in September but he said October is what he wanted. Twenty-Four hours later it was announced by Zuffa that he will not be competing in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix because of a toe injury, and he will be replaced by Daniel Cormier.
Overeem is saying the issue isn’t his toe, and its all a matter of bad timing. However, Dana White posted on his twitter account that Overeem’s management told Zuffa that the problem was an injury. Overeem explained “The rumors about me pulling out of the tournament because of that (toe) are false. Everybody is trying to find reasons why I was pulled out of the tournament, but I can tell you this: it’s not that difficult. Strikeforce promised me a date in the fall (October/November), I acted on it and chose to go on holiday and start my training in August. Zuffa/Showtime then decided to do it in September and then the ball was in my court, and I had to decline because I know it’s too short of time to be prepared 100 percent Instead of postponing the event they decided that the show must go on and use one of the alternates.”
Overeem detractors are asking why can’t he be ready as September 10, the date slated for the next round, is still 7 weeks away. Overeem said “At the moment I have started training by myself because most of my team members and trainer are on holiday, so I didn’t start my real training camp yet. I have to get sparring partners from other countries and fly them in and arrange accommodations. Everything was according to plan and that was to start my fighting program on August 1. So let’s take that date as my starting point, then you have to be in the States a week before the fight. So if you calculate it, then you have just four weeks and that’s not enough to have a good and well prepared training for such a big fight.”
He does admit to having a toe injury, but he went into a little detail how bad it currently was. “It’s not that bad, otherwise I would have canceled [the Silva fight] because of that injury alone.” Overeem continued “It’s more that my body isn’t pain-free, there are minor injuries but they prevent you from training 100 percent. If you have just four-to-six weeks, and you have those minor things, then you are jeopardizing your training. I have started my training recently, and on August 1, I will have a training camp.”
Overeem is known for fighting very consistently. In fact he fought 14 times in 2010 when you add up the MMA fights and his K1 fights. Overeem said its not just one reason, and mentioned the differences between training for a K1 fight and an MMA bout. He said “There are many explanations: the level of competition and the stakes are different. It’s safe to say that all those opponents aren’t as good as ‘Bigfoot,’ the other reason is that K-1 matches are very different to train and you don’t need a very long training camp if you compare it to MMA. The most important is that you can fight multiple times if you don’t interrupt your training. If the September date was confirmed right after the Werdum fight, it was no problem to get in shape because I would have skipped my holiday and organized the training camp earlier. If you go on a holiday and you stop training and enjoy life by eating things you’re normally aren’t allowed or going out instead of sleeping then your momentum is gone and you have to start all over again and that cost extra time as well. There is a reason why UFC champions only fight two times a year.”
When asked if he would like to fight outside of Strikeforce before the end of the year he seemed up for the possibility. He said “I hope so. I like to be active, and like I told you, I will be ready according to the first date we agreed with Strikeforce and that is in October.”
I think all the details will come out about this situation, and I think they will show that he would rather fight K1 fights right now than MMA bouts. Its also interesting that he currently has one fight left on his contract and some are wondering if Zuffa is waiting to use it on the title fight slated after the completion of the tournament.
