Alistair Overeem: M-1 Single-Handedly Destroyed Fedor’s Legacy

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Ubereem spoke with valetudo.ru after the destroying Ben Edwards in the recent K-1 WGP Final 16

Last week, the great Fedor Emelianenko made very uncharacteristic comments, saying that you are “running away from him”. Here is his direct quote: “Today, Strikeforce cannot find me a serious opponent. Alistair Overeem finding all kind of excuses not to fight me” Then Fedor also said that you declined a fight against him.

Here we go again (laughs). There was a lot of discussion if this was really Fedor saying that because people where telling that Fedor would never give a reaction like that. I know for a fact that M-1 does most of the talking when Fedor is interviewed in writing so I’m not surprised if M-1 gave this answer. On the other hand it could also be that Fedor made these comments but was not well informed by M-1 about the negotiation with Strikeforce and myself. M-1 is doing a great job of keeping Fedor away of the true reality about what is going on. If Fedor reads the internet especially in the US then he will be shocked how many bad things have been said about him and especially M-1. They singlehandedly destroyed the legacy Fedor had with all their weird demands and strange comments during the year. So I hope Fedor read this and will tell him exactly what happened. You challenged me to late and I was already committed for the K-1 and don’t blame me because I was calling you out for more than a year but your management company gave all sort of excuses not to fight me. They need months of negotiations with Strikeforce before they can make a fight happen and I’m not the person that’s going to wait for you because I want to fight as much as I can. I’m more than happy to fight you but now you have to wait for me this time, sorry about that (laughs)

Could you please comment on this situation? We all know about your K-1 commitment, but were there an offer to fight Fedor before October? What about his first 2 fights in Strikeforce, did Fedor have a chance to fight against you instead of Brett and Fabricio?

When I was belt holder at the time, I challenged Fedor when I was in Japan for the first time just when news came out he signed with Strikeforce. I was able to fight Fedor but he choose Brett Rogers. I can understand that decision because Strikeforce and M-1 want to build him before putting him against me and wanted a sort of tune up fight. After that fight I challenged him again and then all the discussion came; Vadim telling he wanted a special drug testing and calling me a steroid bully and I wasn’t a worthy opponent for Fedor and all those things. The good thing is that M-1 is making so many contradictions that they look like fools, it’s crazy; calling me a steroid bully but express the desire to fight Josh Barnett or how about this, saying I’m not a worthy opponent but choose Brett Rogers as first opponent. So M-1 have to do damage control again (laughs). Then they made the decision to fight Werdum over me so I could fight Brett Rogers instead. My fight was first and I won the fight, then I flew to the States to challenge the winner Werdum vs Fedor. I was hoping Fedor would win (I’m still a big fan) the fight but Werdum did, so as I promised I challenged Werdum. Then Werdum and Fedor where saying that they rather have a rematch with each other. Unfortunately Werdum had a surgery on his elbow so he was out. M-1 was still saying that Fedor would rather fight Werdum because the fans want that fight the most, there we have another lie again. If you look at all the internet polls you could clearly see that the fans wanted Fedor vs me. Even on their own international website m-1global.com you could see that! They quickly put down the poll when I said it in the media. Then to make things more crazy; Fedor challenged me!! The first time in history Fedor ever challenged somebody, but sorry I was already committed with the K-1 and I know that M-1 knew that I had said yes to K-1. They wanted to blame me for not fighting with Fedor on December.. Then I came up with the perfect solution; Fedor fighting Antonio Silva and then me versus Werdum and the winner of both fights will fight each other…Unfortunately M-1 didn’t want to fight Antonio Silva….. The soap continues….

Also, just yesterday, Werdum’s camp made a statement that they would prefer togive a rematch to Fedor over fighting you for the championship belt.

I stay with what I said; Werdum beat Fedor so Werdum is in line for the title. It’s too bad that Werdum is saying that kind of things in public. It doesn’t give a lot of credit to the belt and is a little disrespectful towards Strikeforce. I’ve never heard in my life that somebody doesn’t want to fight for the belt, I believe I’m a worthy opponent so why does Werdum rather fight Fedor. I’m not going to be sad about it (laughs) and if Fedor still wants to fight me, then I’m honored and more than willing to fight him.

 

good attitude. He just needs to focus on winning K1

 

I like it when a fighter seems to be answering questions honestly and logically.

For the time being I'm excited about Overeem in K1 and we all know M1 are **** ups.

 

-Overeem previously promised us that he would concentrate on MMA and committed to Strikeforce. He broke this.

-Overeem previously blamed his two year absence from Strikeforce from lack of opponents. Now that Strikeforce has couple of worthy opponents (Silva, Barnett and even (now) Fedor), Overeem changed his story yet again.

-Overeem says that he is now committed to K-1 when the challenge came through. What a hypocritical thing to say especially when Strikeforce/M1/Fedor already committed to a Werdum fight when you decided to come back to Strikeforce. Werdum deserved the fight after winning against Silva (and Fedor against Rogers).

-M1 wanted you to take drug tests, this test would have been conducted by the Athletic Commission (and not some independent private company). They would have also requested this if Fedor ever fought Barnett. MMA is rife with performance enhancing drug use (example is Chael Sonnen). Prior to your Rogers fight the majority questioned your sudden growth. M1 especially is rightly concerned about drug usage especially after the Barnett saga.

-Prior to the Rogers fight you were not a proven HW fighter and were not even in the top 10. Look at who youve fought and youll see that its not exactly jam packed with top HW contenders.

-Both Fedor and Werdum wanted to do a rematch, grant these two guys what they want and in the meantime fight Silva, AA or Josh. M1 manages Fedor and if Fedor wants a rematch them M1 MUST put this forward to their co-promotional partner. Afterall M1-Global works for Fedor.

-Overeem, between Bas Boon, Golden Glory and yourself. Most of these **** TALK and insults have come from your side. Your manager and promotion is rife with corruption and underworld figures. Bas Boon accused Vadim and M1 as criminals yet look at Golden Glory, one of its founders is Ron Nyqvist shot and murdered Rob and Eric Driesen.

 

I think that Strikeforce should just force the issue and make them fight each other. why are they even signed with Strikeforce if Strikeforce can't put these matches together? M-1 should shut-up and Overeem's camp should shut-up too. Just fight guys, we are not watching for the debates we are watching for the fights.

 

SF still negotiate with their fighters. UFC tell their fighters who they are fighting.

 

As much as i am a big Fedor fan, i do believe M1 messed up his legacy and credibility, they're possibly the worst negociators and the least educated thrash talkers in mma.

as for Overeem i know very little about him but damn, look at his fight vs hoffman in 2000 and his fight against Rogers 10 years later. That is massive growth!! I'm not saying at all that I think he's taken steroids or anything else (cause i really dont have a clue), but i haven't seen many fighters change so much physically, even in 10 years.

 

The two aren't comparable. UFC has complete autonomy over their fighters. If SF did we wouldn't get to see Overeem in the K1.
SF allows their fighters to make money elsewhere. At the end of the day thats good business for the fighters and for their familys.
The whole SF heavy title mess though is becoming tiresome purely because Overeem wont fight and SF are very unlikely to strip him unless he has a serious layoff. After the K1 GP though Overeem wont have any excuses.

 

When Overeem fought Werdum in the PRIDE GP he weighed 228lbs. That was 4 years ago. In his last fight in the K1 he weighed 242lbs. Those kind of gains are not the kind that you would expect of a steady hormone abuser.
Fact is Overeem was a natural heavy who pushed his body to the limits making 205. Much like Cotto he performs far better at his natural weight. Many have said Overeem is on gear and even i have speculated on this but the fact is the guys a genetic freak and trains like a beast. Those guys down at Golden Glory have a conveyor belt of great fighters. Alistair just happens to be one of them.

 

Agreed but UFC fighters know that if they don't fight, are cut etc then they are not involved with the most prominent org in MMA. SF is the number 2 org but don't have control like a number 2 org should. Fighters should be chomping at the bit to get on CBS, Showtime, possible PPV's etc

 

The UFC are in a position to do this because they're a monopoly and that benefits them. They were not able to be so draconian when PRIDE was around.

 

All the back and forth between Overeem/GG and Fedor/M1 is just points scoring and fight hyping IMHO, I see little evidense that either man has ducked the other.

Overeem didnt go back to SF because after KOing Hari he became a very hot ticket in K1. MMA vs K1 has always sold well in Japan and you can bet Allistair earnt very good money last year and again this year. You can hardly say Overeem has been ducking comp in K1 either, he's been up agenst some of the best kickboxers in the world.

Fedor fought Rogers and Werdum because they were the opponants SF preffered, Overeem was always the big fight BUT he wasnt as established as those two guys so Coker wanted to build him up first. I don't see anything wrong with Fedor pushing for a rematch with a guy he lost to either, beating Werdum should definately be top of his list and MMA being the way it is if the fights left it might never happen(Forrest/Rampage for example).

 

Overeem isn't the type of guy to make excuses like that though. C'mon guys, they guy is on record wanting to fight Fedor ever since he first came to Strikeforce.

Overeem is also on record for not being able to get fights with worthy opponents, and wanting to take part in both K-1 and MMA. Can't hate him for that, I think it's a timing thing. The world isn't going to stop for Fedor, and he shouldn't expect Alistair to just stop what he's doing in the middle of K-1 to prepare and fight for him, the preparation and mindset for K-1 vs. a fight with Fedor are COMPLETELY different.

M-1 has also over-coveted and gone too far in their control of Fedor and who, when he should fight. I'm a HUUUGE Fedor fan, and this is obvious to me. It's a timing issue, Fedor should have jumped on the opportunity to fight Overeem when he had a chance, and M-1 ****ed that up for him. He is the Last Emperor and all, but the world doesn't revolve around one guy. As soon as he got news that Werdum was injured, he should have scheduled a different fight, with Overeem or otherwise.

M-1 has left a bad taste in my mouth with how they have managed Fedor. When he had opportunity to fight Overeem, they balked. Overeem's story pans out in my book. Especially considering the type of guy he is. He's willing to go toe to toe with Badr, and Schlitt. This is a timing and management thing. Neither fighter is afraid of the other, M-1 ****ed up and are being bitches. Overeem commited himself to K-1 because he couldn't get a meaningful fight.

IF Werdum or Fedor valued the belt, as they probably should to bring legitimacy to it, then Overeem would be fighting one of these guys. Can't lay the blame on him!

I still think just considering who Overeem is, we can't lay any blame on him. Everybody knows he is going to take part in K1. Just as everybody knows Fedor is going to take part in national Sambo. Everything else was ****ups on the part of M1, and its obvious

 

Overreem gets the award for "Scariest looking ******* on two legs".

 

As I said I don't think there was ever a chance of this happening before the last few months, SF wanted to build up both men before a fight(mentioned sereval times by Coker) and Overeem was tied up with K1 when both Fedor/Rogers and Fedor/Werdum were booked. If Overeem really wanted this fight he should have focused on SF sooner, not that I'd critisize him for fighting K1 since thats obviously a massive challange and I'v enjoyed his matchs but you can't have your cake and eat it.

Now Fedor's lost to Werdum I think avenging that lost is obviously the most important thing for his legacy. Ultimately Overeem still hasnt achieved that much in MMA either, idealy I'd like to see him fight someone like Bigfoot or Barnett early next year then if he wins face the Fedor/Werdum rematch winner.

Overeem has more potential than any of the other newer names at HW for me and could well be the best HW right now but if Fedor beat him you know what would happen. His record would be highlighted and the importance of the win dismissed by the same bias fans who'll go out of their way to attack Fedor due to him being the highest profile guy outside the UFC.