Fresh off of his win of the 2010 K-1 World Grand Prix title, Dutchman and Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem offered www.mixfight.nl, a top destination for MMA fans in the Netherlands, a message regarding his thoughts on the tournament and his immediate plans moving forward. Overeem is obviously pleased with the win and effusive with praise for his teammates:
With this statement I would like to thank everybody for the congrats and support that I have received after winning the K-1 belt. I didn’t have time to tweet or respond to email or facebook messages. I want to say that this is not a individual effort but a team effort. There are many people involved in my success so I would like to thank; my trainers, my training partners, friends, family and the fans. Without them I would never accomplish this.
Now that I’m sitting in my hotel room in Japan and looking back at the event I came to the conclusion that there were multiple winners that night:
Tyrone Spong: Although I never underestimated him, a lot of people thought the fight would be a easy win for me. I think Tyrone proved the fans wrong and gave me a hell of a fight. He showed the world and the doubters he can hang with the big names in the K-1 and can compete in the heavyweight division. He’s still very young so he has a bright future in front of him.
Gokhan Saki: My opinion was that he should won the fight against Ghita after 3 rounds but he got a extra round. He showed a great match and fought against a big strong guy. He got his revenge for his teammates Zimmerman and Kharitonov. Some people said he should never fight the semi finals against me because of his injury but a real fighter knows you never give up a 3e place. Some people saying it was a Golden Glory move to let him fight, look at Peter Aerts he also wanted to fight the finale. Injuries are part of the game when you have to fight 3 times in one night.
Peter Aerts: What can you say about Peter Aerts? The man is a living legend! 40 years old and still fighting for the title. His victory over Schilt has to be fight of the night. I’ve got much respect for him as a fighter and person. If you are getting older you need to train harder to stay fit, so that alone needs respect. Schilt had an off day but he will be back next year and will be as always one of the favorites to win the tournament.
I will stay in Japan for promotion and doing TV appearances. I didn’t have much time to celebrate my K-1 victory because I will fight at the Dynamite show. Probably it will be a M.M.A. fight and I hope it will be for the vacant Dream title because that belt needs to be on my wall as well 😉
Thanks again and I hope to give you fans great fights in the future.
I’m slightly but not overly concerned about the statement lacking any mention of Strikeforce. Remember this message was given to a top Dutch MMA website. It’s not clear if their audience is clamoring for Overeem to return to North America to defend his Strikeforce title. And Strikeforce put out a press release yesterday touting Overeem’s K-1 accomplishment. They seem satisfied with his experience there as well. Still, some stated intention of prioritizing a Strikeforce title defense, even if only slightly committal, would be welcome by many parties. Not least of which is Strikeforce itself.
Also, the fight at K-1’s Dynamite will “probably be a MMA fight”? It’s not that another kickboxing bout wouldn’t be welcome given the competition would likely be stiffer, but I’d rather it be MMA. If Overeem does intend to return to Strikeforce in 2011, using DREAM as a transition space makes sense.