Contrary to earlier reports, Alistair Overeem has not been released from Strikeforce.
According to ESPN.com, Bas Boon, a representative for the Strikeforce heavyweight champion and manager of Golden Glory, said Overeem is in negotiations with Zuffa LLC and is still under contract with the company. Forza LLC, a subsidiary of UFC’s parent company, Zuffa LLC, operates under Strikeforce.
“The problem with Strikeforce was that we made some agreements with Scott (Coker) which were creating headaches (after) Zuffa took over,” Boon told ESPN.com.
Overeem was originally scheduled to meet Antonio Silva in the semifinals of Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix in September. It was his last fight on his current contract and had he won, he would have been able to negotiate a new contract with Strikeforce.
However, due to Overeem’s injuries and time frame he was forced to withdraw from the bout. As a result, Forza LLC exercised a clause in Overeem’s contract that allowed them to remove one of his bouts. The bout happened to be his final match on his contract, which was previously assigned to Forza after Zuffa LLC acquired the rights to the promotion on March 10.
Due to his non-exclusive contract, it was rumored that Overeem would be featured on a United Glory card in Moscow, Russia, but his injuries have prevented his participation on the card.
A source close to Overeem says negotiations are being discussed between both Zuffa and Golden Glory and that it is not likely he will be able to compete until 2012.
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