Alistair ”The Reem” Overeem (39-14-1) kommer nyss från en vinst över Roy ”Big Country” Nelson vid UFC 185. Han berättar i en lång intervju med Bloodyelbow om vem han vill möta härnäst, vad som ligger bakom hans viktnedgång samt att han tror att Jon ”Bones” Jones kommer att vinna över Anthony ”Rumble” Johnson vid UFC 187, då han har erfarenhet av att träna med då båda.
Alistair ”The Reem” Overeem har nu vunnit två raka matcher i UFC:s tungviktsdivision vilket innebär att han med största sannolikhet inte är alltför långt ifrån en titelmatch. På frågan om vem han helst vill möta kommer Junior ”Cigano” Dos Santos upp på tal. ”Actually, my management is talking with the UFC, and I hope to hear about it this week. About Junior, I can say it’s a great fight and it only sounds logical to me because he’s not booked for a fight, I’m not booked for a fight. Who else is there? There’s not really any option available. I think it’s going to be a very interesting fight. He’s a striker and prefers to fight on the feet, as well as I do. But I do believe I am more versatile. I have submissions, I use my legs, I am more strategic now — especially now that I’m training out of Greg Jackson’s, we work a lot on game plans, strategy”.
Han ser sig som den bättre av de två men beundrar ändå brassens tuffhet som han visade prov på i sin senaste match mot Stipe Miocic i december: ”I just see myself as the better fighter, but still, Junior is still a special case. He’s a former champion, he’s very tough, and you saw that on his last fight against Stipe (Miocic). He can take a lot of punishment and even if someone is pushing the pace, he can survive that. In every way, it’s a very exciting fight and a very challenging fight personally”. Han diskuterar även att det var ett misstag att bli en del av Blackzillians och att det passar honom mycket bättre att vara en del av Team Jackson-Winkeljohn i New Mexiko:
”Det går inte att vara för stor i tungviktsdivisionen längre”
”I moved to the states, and that was a big thing for me. I moved to Miami and I joined the Blackzilians. For me at the time, it seemed like the best logical solution, but sometimes surrounding yourself with new people is not good. Sometimes it’s inevitable because you may think it’s good but it turns out it’s not good. It’s highly subjective too, for other people that can be good, but for me personally it’s not. It was actually very bad, and you can see that in my results. I had two losses, and for me it was time to broaden my horizon and start making some changes. Now it’s all better. Together with these two, I do believe that the title is coming into sight”.
Han har gått ned en hel del vikt sedan hans debut i UFC mot Brock Lesnar år 2011 och säger att det är ett strategiskt val för att orka med de bästa i viktklassen. ” Brock Lesnar was a big guy, he’s at 280 when he fights. When fighting him, you can have a bit of that extra muscle because you don’t want to be thrown around like you’re nothing. But right now, if you look at the top of the heavyweight division, you see Cain, Werdum, Junior dos Santos. All these guys are 240 lbs, maybe 242 or sometimes even 239. They’re smaller so cardio is a big factor, and that’s what makes you win or lose a fight. So I put cardio on the top of that list, and it’s a priority. I have to be very fast, and very strong, not just strong for the first round. Because they may survive the first round and then the fight happens on the third or on championship rounds 4 and 5. You have to have the cardio to do that. It’s all about the cardio”.
Avslutningsvis ger han sin åsikt kring titelmatchen i lätt tungvikt mellan Jon ”Bones” Jones och utmanaren Anthony ”Rumble” Johnson, och efter att ha tränat med båda lutar han åt Jones favör: ”I think Jon Jones. He is more proven. He has done it over and over and over again. Indeed I have trained with both, and Jon Jones is more versatile. Anthony Johnson is very explosive, very athletic, but he’s not versatile. Besides his hands, he has nothing else. He has his hands, and he’s very fast and explosive. Besides that, he has nothing. Jon has the submissions, has the wrestling, takedowns, and he has the mind. He’s been proven, and he fights differently on each of his fights. He’s stopping his opponents in (their style) of fighting. His last victory against (Daniel) Cormier was amazing. He took Cormier down and dominated him. So uhh, Jon Jones!”
Foto: Patrick Jenkinson
