Alistair Overeem focused on winning championship gold but also open to Brock Lesnar rematch

Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Although Alistair Overeem’s main focus is working his way to championship gold in the UFC, he also has one opponent whom he would be interested in fighting again in the octagon: Brock Lesnar.

Overeem is 2-2 since joining the UFC roster and is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Frank Mir in his last octagon outing at UFC 169. While the Dutch striker has avoided the dreaded three-fight losing streak, he still blamed his old team for the losses, as he claimed that the overall training regimen was lacking.

“I do think that my losses were contributed to by my team at that time, because you need to have good sparring partners, good coaches that take care of the direction of the fight, the overall training regimen. I do think that was lacking in the two losses. But then again, it is sports and as you saw with Spain, who were world champions twice and we (Netherlands) destroyed them completely and couldn’t even get through to the finals. “

The former Strikeforce and K-1 champion also joined Malki Kawa’s First Round Management team and moved his training to Jackson’s MMA in Albuquerque, New Mexico to work on getting himself back to a title shot.

“But that’s what happens, you are on a winning streak and then people change, teams change, people get better, new opponents arise and I did drop the ball a few times because you are condemned to do that. But everyone can be assured that I am always working hard, always training hard, put together the right team behind me and I do feel that a new title reign is coming soon for me.”

But “The Reem” still has another opponent in mind before a title fight:

“I do believe that Brock Lesnar will be coming back, I don’t want to call it from retirement, but he is a huge draw, big guy, sells tickets. So that’s a fight I would be interested in.”

While he was initially expected to face Junior dos Santos, Overeem would withdraw from the bout to undergo elbow surgery. Now, he is scheduled to face Ben Rothwell at UFC Fight Night 50 in September.

Transcription taken from Sportskeeda (via MMAMaina)

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About the author

Karim Zidan

Karim Zidan is a investigative reporter and feature writer focusing on the intersection of sports and politics. He has written for BloodyElbow since 2014 and has served as an associate editor since 2016. He also writes for The New York Times and The Guardian. Karim has been invited to speak about his work at numerous universities, including Princeton, and was a panelist at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival and the Oslo Freedom Forum. He also participated in the United Nations counter-terrorism conference in 2021. His reporting on Ramzan Kadyrov’s involvement in MMA, much of which was done for Bloody Elbow, has led to numerous award nominations, and was the basis of an award-winning HBO Real Sports documentary.