UFC 203: How the once-arrogant Alistair Overeem earned a title shot
Alistair Overeem entered the UFC in 2011 so filled with confidence, so sure of himself, that to many, it bordered on arrogance.
It mattered little to Overeem, though, what anyone thought of him. He was destined, he believed, to win yet another championship and that the UFC heavyweight title would finally make the rest of the world take notice of him.
It’s nearly five years later, and it’s a vastly different, far more serious man who will challenge Stipe Miocic at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena in the main event of UFC 203 on Saturday for the heavyweight title.
The UFC title has managed to elude Overeem’s grasp the last four-plus years, despite the brutally one-sided beating he delivered to Brock Lesnar in his debut at UFC 141 on Dec. 30, 2011.
Overeem won the Strikeforce heavyweight title, the Dream heavyweight title and the K-1 heavyweight grand prix before entering the UFC.
When he pummeled Lesnar at UFC 141, it seemed like a watershed moment. A new heavyweight era, it seemed, was at hand.
It didn’t happen that way, though. Sports are full of surprises like that, and sure things aren’t always such certain winners. And when Overeem followed the Lesnar win with losses in his next two fights – bouts he had been winning easily – the perception changed.
He’s 36 now and really has nothing to prove despite his lack of a UFC title, but he doesn’t see it that way.
And he says he’s a different man from the extremely confident heavyweight who entered the UFC.
“This is the last big one,” Overeem said. “I’ve dedicated my life to achieve this goal. It’s been nonstop training, eating, sleeping, getting better as a mixed martial artist, getting better as a fighter. It’s taken years to get to this point, and I’m pleased with the result. I’m very pleased with what I’ve done in this training camp and the team is fired up.”
Overeem lost to Antonio “Big Foot” Silva and Travis Browne in his two bouts after defeating Lesnar. He was ahead and on the verge of a finish in both fights, when Silva and Browne rallied.
A comprehensive win over ex-heavyweight champion Frank Mir at UFC 169 seemed to put him on the road to the title again, but he failed to capitalize. He was knocked out in the first round by Ben Rothwell the next time out despite going into the fight as a 4-1 favorite.
He was down, but the man deserves credit. He refused to go out. He went through the next four fights in impressive fashion, defeating Stefan Struve, Roy Nelson, Junior dos Santos and Andrei Arlovski to once again put himself on the verge of a UFC title.
“I have been in the fight business for a long time and I understand it very well, and so I’m not surprised at all,” Overeem said. “Things happen for a reason and life has a way of not giving you what you want so easily. You have to work for it. And even when you work really hard and think you’ve done all the right things, things come up that kind of deliver another setback.
“I fell off the horse and I climbed back on the horse. I’ve worked really hard. I haven’t quit. I kept doing the right things, because I know if you do the right thing, that you’ll be rewarded. My fight style has evolved tremendously. I went from being ‘Ubereem’ to being Overeem and I feel very good about what I have done and where I am.”
The odds are with him in the sense that UFC titles are changing hands just about every time. Miocic is fighting at home in Cleveland, and that could be an advantage, but Overeem has fought so much and in so many places that the circumstances are unlikely to rattle him.
If Miocic wins, it’s not going to be because Overeem was overcome by the moment or shaken by a boisterous crowd rooting for the hometown hero. He’s been there, done that.
“In my career, 22 years of training and competing, I’ve fought in front of hostile Russian crowds, Japanese crowds where no one knew me, all kinds of audiences,” he said. “Anything you can imagine, I’ve lived it. I know how to deal with it. I’m not expecting to be cheered, but that’s OK. The crowd and its cheers aren’t going to decide the fight.
“I know how to use the boos as motivation in my favor, anyway. I’m fortunate because I’m in a great spot in my life and in my career. I have the perfect team around me now and I’ve given my life to this, and I expect to see the reward for all of that. I am very confident that you will see that in this fight.”
