Alistair Overeem is the current Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, the K-1 World Grand Prix Champion and the DREAM Interim Heavyweight Champion and is the only fighter to hold a championship in Strikeforce and K-1 at the same time. Impressive.
He has a storied career and he has fought some of the true legends of the sport such as Chuck Liddell, and he is seen by many as one of the best Heavyweights in the world at the moment.
Overeem is currently undefeated in his last 12 bouts. However, during this impressive streak, he has not faced anyone that has really tested his skills as a fighter or posed a serious threat to him, with the exception of Mirko Cro-Cop and Fabricio Werdum.
The fight with Cro-Cop ended in a no contest and Overeem scraped a win against Werdum.
With the exception of these fights, how do we know that none of the opponents that he has faced over this 12 fight streak posed a significant threat to Overeem?
Because he has managed to end all the fights in the first round via knockout and submission with 10 of these 12 fights not lasting longer than 3:42 of the first round. Again, impressive.
Does this show that Overeem is good? Of course it does. But then you look at the quality of the opponents that he faced.
Some of the opponents that he has fought during this streak include James Thompson, Gary Goodridge and Lee Tae-hyun. Two of these fighters have losing records and one has the same number of losses as wins.
In contrast, Overeem has faced Brett Rogers who is a very tough opponent, but Overeem managed to beat him convincingly.
His most recent fight was against Fabricio Werdum, which Overeem won by unanimous decision. While a win over Werdum is a great deal for any fighter, the way in which Overeem won was not impressive.
In fact, Overeem’s performance was so unconvincing, that many, including the commentators, thought that Werdum had won and FightMetric scored the fight 29-28 in favour of Werdum.
Despite Overeem’s kickboxing credentials, it was Werdum that landed more strikes throughout the fight and Werdum was also the better grappler in the fight.
Furthermore, Werdum was completely exhausted come the second round and Overeem could not act on the promise that he made before the bout and finish his opponent.
Somehow, it was Overeem that walked away with the win.
Neither fighter looked good in this fight, but this fight may have been an indication of how Overeem fares against tougher opponents.
If you look at Overeem’s record, you will see a plethora of “big names” such as Chuck Liddell, Minotauro Nogueira, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Sergei Kharitonov and Ricardo Arona. He has been finished via knockout and submission by all of these opponents.
So far, the statistics are pointing to the fact that Overeem might not be as good a fighter as everyone is making him out to be.
Don’t get me wrong, Overeem has got great potential and is a great fighter, but he is not performing at his best in fights that count which are against the some of the biggest names in this industry.
So, to answer the question of the article. Is Overeem that good or is he just overrated?
I think he is that good. I think he has got great potential. But, I also think that Overeem needs to step his game up against tougher opponents to show that he can be the best heavyweight in the world.
He definitely has the skill and the talent to be the best in the world. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be a champion in three different promotions. He certainly is an entertaining fighter to watch, as well as it is very rare that his fights end in decisions.
With the acquisition of Strikeforce, the pool of talent under the Zuffa banner has increased substantially, and hopefully this means that fighters will constantly be tested to show that they are legitimate contenders and similarly, champions.
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