Alistair Overeem brought in ‘black Roy Nelson’ as sparring partner for UFC 185

Although Alistair Overeem has had five fights in the UFC since joining the promotion back in 2012, he is yet to string together consecutive…

By: Karim Zidan | 8 years ago
Alistair Overeem brought in ‘black Roy Nelson’ as sparring partner for UFC 185
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Although Alistair Overeem has had five fights in the UFC since joining the promotion back in 2012, he is yet to string together consecutive wins in the heavyweight division, which has significantly hampered his multiple title runs.

So, ahead of his UFC 185 match-up against Roy Nelson, Overeem decided to bring in a special training partner to help him secure his first back-to-back wins in the UFC: Chris ‘Huggy Bear’ Barnett.

The intention behind this was to use Barnett as an emulator for Nelson’s body type and athleticism. However, Overeem did not account for how big Barnett actually was.

“Oh my god, how big? He actually lied about his weight,” Overeem told MMAFighting.com. “I forced him to get on the scale. I kinda felt like his weight was heavy. I asked him what he weighs in training – ‘I’m 308-pounds’ he said giggling.

“That man could not be 308-pounds. He’s too solid; he’s too much of an issue to get off me. The f***er weighed 350-pounds – 100 pounds more than me.

While Barnett turned out to be 42 pounds heavier that he initially claimed, Overeem was surprised to find that “Huggy Bear” was still agile and athletic. Barnett is also on a seven-fight win streak dating back to 2010.

“But he is a very athletic guy; a very funny guy, and I actually like him a great deal. He has been a great sparring partner.

“He was the black Roy Nelson. The black ‘Country.'”

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About the author
Karim Zidan
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.

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