Alistair Overeem suffered an undisclosed injury and as a result, has been forced to withdraw from his Rico Verhoeven heavyweight title fight atop the GLORY: “Collision 3” kickboxing pay-per-view (PPV) scheduled for Oct. 23 at GelreDome in Arnhem, Netherlands.
“I’ve never pulled out of a fight before and trust me, this decision was hard to make,” Overeem wrote on social media. “I’ve been dealing with the injury for over a month. Two days before the press conference, a couple of weeks ago, I wasn’t even able to walk straight. After some treatment I felt much better. And since I’ve never been a quitter, I wasn’t going to quit now. I went back in camp. But… the injury got worse again and I could not even fulfill a complete training session. Yesterday my coaches, my medical team and myself had to make the decision to pull out.”
Overeem, 41, parted ways with UFC after suffering a knockout loss to Alexander Volkov earlier this year. The exact nature of his injury has yet to be disclosed but “Demolition Man” is not expected to make his kickboxing return until some point in 2022.
“Oct. 23 I was suppose to give the fans a show! I wanted to make sure that everybody in the arena and the ones at home watching, got what they came for; an entertaining high level fight,” Overeem continued. “Even if I was at 90% now, or 80% maybe even, I would have gotten into that ring. But I’m at 40% and that’s not enough. Fighters get out there. We train hard, work hard. There’s a lot at stake. Our sport can get you injured. Not only in the ring, but unfortunately also in preparation. I hope to get some understanding from you guys.”
No word yet from GLORY on whether or not Verhoeven will remain on the card.