For the last decade, the UFC’s heavyweight division has been considered stagnate and in a state of decline. Title fights have been postponed through injury and hollow interim belts created.
There’s been a merry-go-round of champions – no one has defended the strap more than twice – and on the whole, the ingredients during that time have largely remained the same.
In the last five years, Cain Velasquez, Frank Mir, Junior Dos Santos, Antonio Silva and Fabricio Werdum have been the major players. And many of them have gone stale. But 2016 has witnessed the emergence of fresh flavours, and they have packed quite a punch.
One of them is Dutch star Alistair Overeem. A kickboxing legend, ‘The Reem’ has been a mainstay in heavyweight combat for the best part of a decade.
Now, it’s true that at 36 years old he hardly bucks the trend of an aging stable of stars but while others have faded in the later part of their careers, Overeem has matured and even embraced it.
Over the last 17 months he’s enjoyed a renaissance in MMA. And it could hardly have come at a better time for the promotion’s big men. After many had given up on his chances of becoming a UFC champion, the British-born striker will finally fight for the title.
It was announced late last month that on September 10 at UFC 203 he will meet the newly-crowned Stipe Miocic for the one belt missing from his collection. Having captured titles in Strikeforce, DREAM and K-1, he is considered one of the most decorated MMA fighters of all time. Complete the set and he may own that acclaim all to himself.
“I’m going to have people decide that for themselves,” he tells Sport360 when asked if he’d be considered the best ever. “But, I definitely think there is case. The best ever is subjective but I will definitely be the most decorated heavyweight fighter of all time and maybe even the most decorated of all time.
“That definitely is a goal, I’m working hard for that everyday and I can feel and see that day coming.”
Indeed, that day has been a long time coming.
His path to Octagon glory started in 2011 when he burst into the mainstream consciousness with a brutal knockout of crossover star Brock Lesnar in his UFC debut. It was supposed to lead to a bout with rival Dos Santos for the title the following year, but then he was pulled after failing a random drug test.
Just Announced! #UFC203 ON SALE Fri. June 24 10am! Stipe Miocic vs. Alistair Overeem #LiveAtTheQ on Sat. Sept. 10! pic.twitter.com/FLUjkX0jHC
— #LiveAtTheQ (@TheQArena) June 8, 2016
After a year out, Overeem returned but he dropped three defeats in his next four fights and a serious back injury punctuated his career, leaving him to contemplate his future. Then change came.
In 2014 he switched up his training regime, swapping the Blackzillians in Miami for the famed Jackson-Winkeljohn camp. Under the guidance of two of the best coaches in MMA, Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn, his skills have become much more refined and his game evolved.
He’s adopted a style which is less ‘go for the kill’ and more ‘win with skill’ as there’s obvious emphasis on defence alongside the sustained bursts of violence we’ve become accustomed to.
As a result, he’s gone on to own the best win streak in the division – four straight – and is fresh from a phenomenal second-round KO of team-mate Andrei Arlovski last month, a win in which he fulfilled his role as national hero in the promotion’s first voyage to the Netherlands.
Overeem credits the change of scenery for much of his recent success.
“The difference between Blackzillians and Jackson’s is night and day,” he adds. “In every department you can think of it’s night and day; the team, the chemistry and the coaches. In Miami there’s a lot to do but in Albuquerque there’s nothing to do so your focus is 100 per cent on your sport. For me that works and the way I look at the fighting, Greg Jackson and Albuquerque works perfectly.
“If you look at my earlier fights, I would always go for the knockout. Back then I was more first-round knockout type fighter, brute power, aggressiveness and pressure.
“If I look at it now, I’m more strategic, more martial arts, more timing and more speed. I’m a better fighter now for sure.”
There’s also one other, perhaps surprising name, he owes his run to – light-heavyweight great and interim champ Jon Jones.
“He’s a sparring partner and I like him as a person,” he says of his team-mate. “I learn from him, he shares his technique and that is what the chemistry at Jackson’s is like.
“Everybody is helping each other and for me that really works well. You’ve got Jon Jones, Holly Holm, John Dodson, Donald Cerrone and Carlos Condit, these are some of the best fighters in the world. But Jon is my weight. He’s a light-heavyweight so there is a weight difference of course but he’s big and he’s strong. I can move around with him and to me that helps my game hugely.”
Overeem is more than prepared for the extra glare the shine of a UFC gold belt can bring and it’s something he welcomes. After all, much of his career is documented in his online series ‘Reem’.
Of course, there are detractors. Rumours have always swirled that Overeem is a performance-enhancing drug user. Many thought the introduction of USADA’s year-round drug testing would see his career suffer but while his physique has transformed in recent years, so has his ability inside the Octagon.
Overeem offers his own assessment of why that’s the case.
“When I came into the UFC I just became K-1 champion. That’s just kickboxing, only striking so there’s no wrestling or stuffing take downs. It’s three rounds for three minutes,” he explains.
“Now, I’m fighting five rounds of five minutes, so that cardio needed to increase and increase dramatically because if you get tired by the end of the first round, you’re going to get knocked out. It was obvious that I was going to have to shed weight.
“I needed to, to become more of a martial artist and when you look at, I’m an entirely different and better fighter as a result.”
Overeem is unapologetically confident and he has no problem expressing that. He refers to his September clash as a “title win” and though Miocic, who stunned Werdum to take the belt at UFC 198, is a tough test, the Dutchman is predicting he will cement his legacy.
“He poses whole new challenges so I’m looking forward to learning and getting better,” he says. “But it won’t last more than three, I predict I will get him out of there in between two or three rounds.”
