BOSTON — Alistair Overeem was asked Wednesday if maybe he lost his focus during his UFC 156 fight against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva.
Overeem, after all, controlled the first two rounds of the fight in Las Vegas before Silva rallied early in the third and scored one of the most visceral finishes in recent memory.
“It could seem like that,” Overeem conceded. “It could seem like I was less focused than the rest of the fight.”
But that said, Overeem, whose loss ended an 11-fight win streak, said he views the bout as a learning experience.
“Losing is part of the game,” Overeem said, “We lost, we have certainly grown from that loss, and now it’s on with the next thing.”
With that, the former Strikeforce and Dream heavyweight champion turns his attention to Saturday night’s UFC Fight Night bout at the TD Garden against Travis Browne. While it may seem a bit too soon to imply the Overeem is in a must-win situation against the upstart Browne, Overeem’s run in the UFC has been checkered, from suspensions to fight fallouts to the big loss to Silva when he was being positioned for a title shot.
“I don’t want to go too much into the past and I also don’t want to go too much into the future,” Overeem said. “It’s going to be this fight. Well, I’m not really thinking about anything other than this fight. I have to be very strong, very confident. Other than that I’m not really thinking about my ranking or my position.”
Which leads us to the fight with Browne. The 31-year-old Browne had his own loss to ‘Bigfoot’ to shake off, an October fight in Minneapolis in which he tore his hamstring before being knocked out. That was Browne’s only loss in 16 career fights, and he’s since come back and scored a vicious finish over Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC in April.
Browne also has 12 finishes among his 14 career victories, so Overeem, a decorated kickboxer, is ready to bring it.
“He’s an aggressive fighter,” Overeem said. “He’s an up-and-coming fighter, he’s a phenomenal striker, and he’s definitely someone you should not underestimate.”