With Alistair Overeem set to defend his Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship against Brett Rogers May 15th, for the first time since he won it in 2007, fans that are mostly on a North American MMA diet are finally catching up with just who the hell Overeem is. Although Overeem may not be widely considered as a top of the chain, top 5 kind of heavyweight, the Dutch fighter has terrifying knees (in a smashing sense rather than appearance) and is no slouch on his feet, so if he does get by Rogers a bout with Fedor Emelianenko would certainly be interesting.
In an intriguing interview with MMA Mania, Overeem talks about his upcoming bout with Rogers, the growing ‘beef’ between the two, before moving on to the subject of Fedor. Really, most of Overeem’s angst is directed at Fedor’s management M-1, who the Dutch fighter believes is preventing “The Last Emperor” from fighting the best in order to ensure that the company keeps raking in dough (you know, the whole golden goose thingy…) When asked to convey a direct message to Fedor, Overeem offered this:
“Fedor, you are a great fighter and like many other great Russian fighters in history you do your talking in a ring or cage. Leave this M-1 circus and start fighting the best. It’s okay to lose sometimes but hiding makes you look like a coward, which Fedor is not, Vadim is!”
We’re just hoping to see Fedor throw down sometime in 2010…