What’s next for Alistair Overeem?
Alistair Overeem will certainly go down as one of the greatest heayvweights of all time when it is all said and done. But it is not quite yet all said and done for “The Demolition Man,” as he picked up his second consecutive victory with an impressive stoppage of Alexey Oleynik on Saturday.
The 38-year-old overcame some adversity in the early stages of the bout on his opponent’s home soil, before coming into his own and securing the 45th victory of his professional MMA career in dominant fashion.
Oleynik landed some heavy shots on the Dutchman and put his chin to the test in the opening exchanges. But after weathering the storm, the fight was all Overeem. The former Strikeforce heavyweight champ landed some heavy knees in the clinch, before eventually dropping the Russian and finishing him off with strikes on the ground.
After back-to-back losses to Francis Ngannou and Curtis Blaydes, there were questions asked regarding Overeem’s future. The worst part about those losses was the amount of damage that Overeem took, especially at this stage of his career. So, perhaps it was just about that time to consider hanging up the gloves?
Fast forward ten months since the loss to Blaydes, it seems like we have the answer. Alistair Overeem is not done yet.
As the heavyweight division remains in a bit of a standstill, with champion Daniel Cormier considering his options (waiting for Brock Lesnar) before he returns into the octagon, Overeem has bounced back from his two consecutive losses by igniting a two-fight win streak.
Before finishing Oleynik, “The Reem” also took out heavyweight prospect Sergey Pavlovich, in what is beginning to look like a Russian redemption tour for the now No. 6 ranked contender — as he has already managed to call out another Russian fighter in Alexander Volkov, who he was initially supposed to be fighting in Saint Petersburg.
So with Volkov now in the conversation — let’s take a look at what could be next for Overeem.
There are currently not a whole lot of fights that make sense for Overeem in terms of boosting his stock in the title picture.
Ruling out the possibility of Overeem fighting anyone below him in the rankings, there are only two names in the top six right now that are available, and against which a victory would do the Dutchman a favor in his quest for another title shot.
Those names are the aforementioned Volkov, and Curtis Blaydes.
After emerging on the UFC stage with four wins from four, Volkov most recently found himself on the end of a viscious knockout from Derrick Lewis. But despite the loss, Volkov’s stand up looked impressive in that fight, making the stylistic matchup with Overeem a potential striking clinic.
In addition, they are both ranked at No. 6 in the division, meaning it would make a lot of sense for the rankings to schedule that fight again — especially since Overeem seemed particularly interested in that option in his post-fight interview on Saturday.
A rematch with Blaydes is also a possibility, and it would give Overeem an opportunity to avenge his loss from June of last year. Blaydes’ latest outing was a bounce back win over Justin Willis. And as he now ranks at No. 4 in the division, a big name fight like Overeem would be an enticing opportunity to throw his name back into the title contention.
Stylistically, this matchup favors Overeem a lot less than the Volkov one, as Blaydes is a very keen wrestler. And even though Overeem has a respectable ground game, it was never his go to, and certainly not at this stage of his career.
It has been over five months since Cormier’s last title defense against Derrick Lewis — and with the champ focused on securing a big money fight in his next Octagon appearance, the infamous interim belt could very well be on the horizon.
And if that was to be the case, then another big win could very well put Overeem near the top of the list of contenders for that interim title shot.
Sports journalist based in CA, USA.
Twitter: @ArionArmeniakos
