Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem (34-11, 1NC) had a stellar year in 2010. The Dutch fighter defended his Strikeforce title with a win over Brett Rogers in May, then he went on to progress through the K-1 World Grand Prix tournament to capture the kickboxing crown in early December, and shortly afterwords he made short work of Todd Duffee on New Year’s Eve to capture the DREAM interim heavyweight championship.
Even with all of those accomplishments Overeem is still not ranked in the top five, or even the top ten, of some mixed martial arts rankings for heavyweight fighters.
With his coming participation in the Strikeforce World Grand Prix heavyweight tournament, Overeem looks to change his position in the rankings and hopes to move into the #1 position by winning the tournament.
He’ll open the tournament against Fabricio Werdum on April 9th in Japan at an as-of-yet announced venue.
“Cain Velasquez is No. 1 now because I haven’t competed against the names. So there is that argument, that I haven’t fought the caliber opponents I should — I wanted to, but either they wouldn’t fight me, or the schedule didn’t work out. But that’s what this tournament is about. I’m very motivated, very healthy, very confident. Everything is different now for me than when I fought Werdum. I was a light heavyweight then and I’m a heavyweight now. I’m much better than I was then.”
HT: MMAFighting.com