DALLAS (July 29, 2011) – HDNet’s “Inside MMA” breaks some shocking news concerning StrikeForce™ Heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem who “Inside MMA” has learned has received a cut letter and has been released from the promotion.
Sources close to the situation have told “Inside MMA’s” Ron Kruck that Strikeforce™ has exercised its right to eliminate the one remaining fight on Overeem’s contract effective July 22nd.
Also according to the source, Overeem has been dealing with more serious injuries than originally reported, including a broken toe and rib. He also has problems with an elbow.
Overeem has fought through nagging injuries, and even though he was set to fight in the StrikeForce™ semi-finals (scheduled for September 10th in Cincinnati), Overeem has stated he still needed more time to recover.
Another issue that StrikeForce™ officials had regarding Overeem’s participation in the tournament is he had only one fight left on his current contract and he would have had to fight twice to win the Grand Prix.
Overeem will fight in Russia in October for the promotion United Glory – no word yet on who his opponent will be.
To check out a clip of the coverage, click here:
http://www.hd.net/blogs/breaking-news-alistair-overeem-cut-by-strikeforce-inside-mma/
For more on this breaking story follow “Inside MMA” on Twitter (twitter.com/hdnet) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/HDNetInsideMMA).
With the Heavyweight-Champ removed (with his 1 fight on the contract he could have simply defended his title against the tourney-winner) alltogether – what does that signal about the relevance of Strikeforce?…
With Dana NOT calling Overereem a [blank] 200 times, what does that imply about Zuffa/Overeem relation.
With Zuffa removing one of the most popular fighters from Strikeforce (i.e. the Showtime programme) after Showtime tried to piss them of by changing terms, what does that absolutely hint at about the relation of Zuffa and Showtime?
I just can’t figure it out 😀 😀 … But the FedorHenderson match definitely signals long-term-matchmaking, … I meant sqeezing out any last penny from Strikeforce’s fight-potential before it kicks the bucket for good.
And one more, just for fun:
With the new situation, Fedor and Henderson (Hendor and Federson) should now fight for the vacant HW-Title. That would be the cherry on the cake.
I wonder about the financial incentive for a guy like Overeem to fight for the UFC. Being one of the top Heavyweights outside of UFC is probably fairly lucrative. Obviously UFC money for their top HWs is more, but once you join the UFC you’ll have to fight the other top guys in the world. You only keep getting the top paydays if you win. A few losses and you’re out, probably sustaining serious injuries, with a damaged reputation.
A HW with a name can command good money from lesser promotions and fight, well, lesser competition. Which means winning more, being injured less, and having, perhaps, a longer career.
Fedor has made good money outside of UFC.
A guy with a name, but who might only be, say, fifth best in the UFC, might make more money over his career outside of the UFC, headlining smaller promotions.
Judging by the behavior of Fedor and Overeem, it seems that UFC doesn’t have as much financial leverage over a HW with a name and good rep as they do over smaller fighters. This implies that the UFC money isn’t a dramatic increase over what they think they can earn elsewhere. They might be wrong, of course. Overeem has a such a marketable look, and speaks such good English, that I’d think success in the UFC would skyrocket his marketability here in the US.
But he’s already marketable in Europe. And failing in the UFC would hurt that.
If you want to prove you’re the best, then the UFC is the place to be. Money-wise that might not be the case — at least for top name HWs.
Overeem needs to make the right play. With K-1 on the slide and looking to bring in young talent, Overeem wont have the huge fights that he used to. JLB and Ray Sefo have both spoke out against K-1 and vowed not too fight for them again. The other major MMA players, Dream, Strikeforce and Bellator don’t have the long term potential to guarantee big pay days. Sure he can fight one fight deals with Golden Glory or Bamma but his reputation is going to tarnish eventually. I don’t think Overeem wants any part of the UFC unless it is at his terms. So, I say we never see the Reem in the Octagon. That is a shame, cause Reem could be a huge draw in the UFC,
There are some great quotes from Dave Meltzer’s work over on Yahoo:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=dm-meltzer_alistair_overeem_released_strikeforce_072711
“Overeem’s release is said to have been related to an impasse between Zuffa and Golden Glory. Golden Glory was believed to be looking for terms to a new deal that would’ve been different from what Zuffa affords its fighters to this point, including the ability to seek fights outside the promotion.
…
With Strikeforce being purchased by Zuffa, fighters have fewer alternatives to get the type of money, and more, the negotiating power and leverage, that the biggest stars and management have gotten in the past.”
Overeem has signed contracts worth lots of money in Japan, but how much of that money was actually paid? At least working for Zuffa he had the assurance that he will be paid in full on time. The last time I remember hearing he still had not been paid by FEG for DREAM and K-1 fights.
Machiel Van:
People have to also understand that Alistair Overeem means a lot to Golden Glory and to their MMA and kickboxing shows. Having Overeem and Kharitonov along with other members of their camp participate in MMA and kickboxing is a huge deal. Let’s not mention the fact that they are also trying to capitalize after what happened to K-1. There is a lot of stuff going on in the background, that’s for sure.