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Alistair Overeem Bio

Alistair Cees Overeem (born May 17, 1980) is a Dutch mixed martial artist and kickboxer. He is the current Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion. He holds notable wins over top mixed martial artists such as Vitor Belfort, Sergei Kharitonov, Igor Vovchanchyn, Paul Buentello, Mark Hunt, Tony Sylvester, Kazuyuki Fujita and Lee Tae-Hyun. In kickboxing he holds notable wins over Badr Hari, Peter Aerts and Ewerton Teixeira.

Biography

Mixed martial arts career

After posting a 10-3 record in promotions such as RINGS, Overeem debuted in PRIDE on July 20, 2002, defeating Yusuke Imamura by TKO in just 45 seconds. Overeem would win two more fights in PRIDE before entering the 2003 PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix at PRIDE Total Elimination 2003 and losing to future UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell in the quarterfinal match. Overeem rebounded to defeat Tomohiko Hashimoto at the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003-Inoki Festival in 36 seconds. On October 31, 2004 he fought Hiromitsu Kanehara, defeating him by TKO part-way through the first round at PRIDE 28 - High Octane. He lost his next fight against Brazilian Top Team fighter Antônio Rogério Nogueira.

In 2005, Overeem entered the PRIDE Middle Weight Grand Prix at PRIDE Total Elimination 2005 where he defeated former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort by submission in the opening round. Overeem would move on to fight Igor Vovchanchyn in the quarterfinals at PRIDE Critical Countdown 2005 taking under two minutes to win by submission. Overeem lost in the semi-finals to eventual champion Mauricio Rua.

In February 2006, Overeem fought Russian Top Team favorite Sergei Kharitonov. Overeem won the fight, dislocating Kharitonov's shoulder in the process. With his win over Kharitonov, Overeem secured a spot in the PRIDE 2006 Open Weight Grand Prix at PRIDE Total Elimination Absolute. He fought Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist Fabricio Werdum, losing via kimura in the second round.

After his loss, Overeem traveled to San Jose, California to rematch Vitor Belfort at Strikeforce: Revenge. Despite being the main event, Overeem pulled out a decision win in a lackluster fight. A month later Overeem returned to PRIDE for a highly anticipated rematch with Antônio Rogério Nogueira. Early in the second round, as Overeem stumbled from a punch, Nogueira threw a flurry of punches. Worried Overeem would be more severely injured, his corner threw in the towel.

At PRIDE Final Conflict Absolute, he lost to Ricardo Arona. Overeem was on the receiving end of a leg kick that caused a non-serious injury to his nerves, causing him to lose feeling in his foot and leg. Unable to mount an offense or defend against Arona, Overeem tapped out to avoid further injury.

He then suffered another KO loss to Mauricio Rua at Pride 33, but returned in June 2007 with a submission win over Michael Knaap at K-1 Grand Prix in Amsterdam (despite K-1 being a kickboxing promotion, the bout was fought under MMA rules).

On September 17, 2007, at K-1 Hero's Middleweight GP Final Alistair faced Sergei Kharitonov again. Overeem showed solid movement as soon as the first round began, but he suffered a KO loss just before the end of the first round.

On November 16, 2007, Overeem defeated Paul Buentello for the vacant Strikeforce heavyweight title by submission due to knee strikes.

On June 15, 2008 Overeem won by KO in the first round against Lee Tae-Hyun at DREAM.4. On July 21, 2008, Overeem defeated K-1 World Grand Prix 2001 champion Mark Hunt in the first round by submission at DREAM.5.

His next fight was against Mirko Filipović at DREAM.6 on September 23, 2008. After almost half of the first round which saw Overeem taking down Filipovic multiple times and effectively striking from the top position, cutting his Croatian foe, the bout was stopped and declared a no contest due to Alistair landing multiple knees to the groin of Filipovic.

In a 2008 interview, Overeem has stated that he would like to fight in the UFC in the near future. Overeem would ideally like a rematch with Chuck Liddell to avenge his PRIDE Total Elimination 2003 knockout loss and Mirko Cro Cop to avenge his disappointing no-contest in Dream. Overeem was also seen at UFC 93 in Ireland talking to Dana White and indicating he is "ready" to fight in the UFC.

Overeem was rumoured to make his first title defense against undefeated Heavyweight Brett Rogers on June 6 at Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields, however a hand injury scuttled plans for the fight. According to Golden Glory manager Bas Boon, Overeem had suffered a hand infection following a nightclub brawl early May 2009. According to Boon, Alistair and his brother Valentijn - both heavyweights - had been involved in an altercation that left five security staff needing hospital treatment and nearly cost Alistair his hand.

Overeem was scheduled to make his first Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship defense in a rematch against Fabricio Werdum at Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg, but had to pull out due to a hand injury, most likely caused from his nightclub brawl.

Alistair defeated Tony Sylvester at Golden Glory's 10 year anniversary celebration with a standing guillotine choke. He used the same choke only 8 days later to submit MMA journeyman James Thompson at DREAM.12.

Overeem has stated that he wants a rubber match with Badr Hari, only this time in an MMA bout.

Overeem was set to face Andrei Arlovski at Dynamite!! 2009 but FEG instead opted to have him face another journeyman, Kazuyuki Fujita to keep with the DREAM Vs. Sengoku theme. Overeem quickly overpowered his opponent and recorded a knockout with a knee to the head.

Overeem is expected to face Brett Rogers in a title bout on May 15, 2010 at Strikeforce 24.

Kickboxing career

Alistair made his kickboxing debut against Paul Hordijk, winning it by decision. Alistair then moved onto K-1, having two K-1 Kickboxing fights in 6 years against Errol Parris and Glaube Feitosa. Alistair was knocked out in both bouts and stayed with MMA from then on. He did not fight in K-1 for 4 more years.

On December 31, 2008 Overeem faced Badr Hari, one of K-1's top contenders, under K-1 rules. He defeated Hari by way of knockout in the first round, achieving one of his most outstanding accomplishments to date.

After beating Badr Hari by KO, he faced Remy Bonjasky, the defending K-1 champion. Overeem was aggressive in the 1st and dominant in the 2nd round, knocking Bonjasky down in the end of the 2nd round with a right cross, but referee Nobuaki Kakuda didn't count it. In the 3rd round Remy knocked Alistair down with a flying knee and right punch combo to secure an unanimous decision win. All three judges scored the bout 30-28.

On September 26 at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 Final 16, having been selected by fan voting after his impressive performances against Remy Bonjasky and Badr Hari, Overeem shocked the kickboxing world by achieving a huge upset. He defeated K-1's longest serving member, legendary 3-time champion Peter Aerts by unanimous decision, becoming the first man in K-1 history to prevent Aerts from competing in the World Grand Prix final.

At the K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 Final Overeem knocked out Kyokushin Karate Champion, Ewerton Teixeira with a knee strike in the first round, but lost to Badr Hari, via KO from a head kick in the Semi Finals.

Mixed martial arts record

K-1 / Kickboxing record

External links

• Official Site
• Professional MMA record for Alistair Overeem from Sherdog

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