Alistair Overeem isn’t done with mixed martial arts (MMA) just yet.
“The Demolition Man” is staying busy outside the cage as he gets set to debut in professional wrestling next month before making his way back to the kickboxing ring in October. Despite his run in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) coming to an end in Mar. 2021, expect to see the 42-year-old Overeem back fighting a cage at some point.
“Absolutely not [done with MMA],” Overeem told MMA Fighting’s The MMA Hour. “Might do one more [fight] or maybe two. Might be one. We’ll see what comes about but the calendar’s booked. We’ve got the Badr [Hari fight] and then we’ve got Rico [Verhoeven] after potentially so that will be next year and then we’ll see.”
At his peak, Overeem was one of the most feared men on the planet, if not the most feared. Holding the title as Strikeforce Heavyweight champion from Nov. 2007 to June 2011, Overeem was on top at the same time as Fedor Emelianenko was nearing his legendary win streak’s end. Thanks to Fabricio Werdum, fans never got to see a collision between “The Last Emperor” and Overeem.
However, the fight is still a possibility all these years later as Emelianenko is looking to soon finish his career in Bellator.
Despite missing out on the opportunity during their Strikeforce days, Overeem isn’t all too interested in the matchup at this stage. Though he admits that could very well change if he knew it was lined up to happen.
“Respect to Fedor,” Overeem said. “He hasn’t fought in a couple of years. I’ve been working on my compassion lately and I think challenging a man who has not fought for several years, I don’t really think that’s a good thing to do.
“[Emelianenko is] not a fight I would particularly look for and even the Badr fight, in the beginning not a fight I would look for but the closer it gets, the more it becomes a thing,” he added. “I’m actually getting really enthusiastic about it. It could actually also happen with the Fedor fight. Initially, not something I would really look for but I don’t know. The hype kinds of speeds up, people start talking and it’s like this is pretty cool actually. Let’s go.”
Overeem last fought in Feb. 2021, suffering a second-round technical knockout loss against Alexander Volkov (watch highlights).