Lowkick.com’s Anton Gurevich recently had the privilege to interview Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem.
Overeem is gearing up for a Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix quarterfinal fight with Brazilian jiu jitsu specialist Fabricio Werdum.
This rematch takes between the two heavyweight takes place in Dallas, Texas on June 18; Werdum submitted Overeem with a kimura in their May 2006 meeting under the Pride banner.
Overeem is regarded as the eighth best heavyweight in the world by Sherdog, while Werdum is currently ranked the No. 3 heavyweight by the same highly regarded mixed martial arts website.
Despite this fact, there are a number of fans and critics alike who do not believe that “The Demolition Man” is worthy of top-10 status due to facing lackluster competition in recent years.
“The Reem” feels that a win over Werdum is not grounds to be ranked ahead of Fedor Emelianenko, however, he believes “that a win over Werdum will close the debate if I’m a top-10 fighter or not.”
Gurevich was curious if Werdum’s win over Emelianenko would make him overconfident, to which Overeem responded, “Werdum is a professional fighter and he will be confident but not overconfident.”
The Strikeforce title holder was also asked about Fabricio Werdum’s recent comments that “Alistair Overeem is my son.”
Overeem seemed more puzzled than offended by his next opponent’s statement.
“I heard him saying that I’m his son, but I don’t understand what he really means. I think he means that he’s superior than me, because he beat me a couple of years ago. I think it’s a lost in translation thing.”
Also the current K-1 World Grand Prix champion, Overeem said that he still has no plans of embarking on a boxing career.
“My goal is to become the best MMA fighter and that’s what my focus is. Boxing is a whole different sport and you shouldn’t take it lightly. If there are no challenges left in my career, then I can consider something like that.”
Overeem was quick to clarify “But for now, there are plenty challenges.”
Gurevich then asked Overeem how interested he was in fighting current UFC contenders Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, and Frank Mir; as well as reigning UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez.
“My main focus is on winning the Strikeforce tournament, so UFC is not on my mind right now,” Overeem said.
The Demolition Man continued, “I’ve always stated that the heavyweight division in Strikeforce has the best fighters and I still think so. But still, it would be foolish to say that the UFC heavyweight fighters are not good.”
Overeem described the aforementioned UFC heavyweight household names as “very dangerous fighters that can finish fights” and also stated that “those fighters are world class for sure.”
The Reem even offered a brief analysis of each fighter, all of whom he could encounter in the Octagon somewhere down the line:
“Carwin has great knockout power, Brock is a great wrestler and athlete, Frank Mir improved his standup and has a good ground game and the champion Cain Velasquez is very durable and has great wrestling.”
Finally, when asked for his prediction of knockout or submission in the fight against Werdum, Overeem simply responded “KO.”
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