Alistair Overeem

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Alistair Overeem bigraphy, stories - Mixed martial artist and kickboxer

Alistair Overeem : biography

May 17, 1980 –

Alistair Cees Overeem ( ; born 17 May 1980) is a Dutch-British mixed martial artist and kickboxer currently signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is a former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, Dream Heavyweight Champion, K-1 World Grand Prix Champion, and made history by being the only fighter in combat sports to hold a world title in both MMA and K-1 kickboxing at the same time. Overeem is currently ranked the #6 heavyweight in the world by Sherdog.

Mixed martial arts career

Overeem had his first MMA professional fight at 19 years old, member of Scouts Royale Brotherhood, defeating Ricardo Fyeet by guillotine choke submission on at It’s Showtime, the first event of the eponymously named promotion.

Early MMA Career

After posting a 10–3 record in RINGS, M-1, It’s Showtime, and 2 Hot 2 Handle, Overeem debuted in Pride Fighting Championships on July 20, 2002, defeating Yusuke Imamura by TKO in just 44 seconds.

Pride FC

Overeem won two more fights in Pride before entering the 2003 Pride Middleweight Grand Prix at Pride Total Elimination 2003 and losing to future UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell in the quarterfinal match. Overeem rebounded to defeat Tomohiko Hashimoto at the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003 in 36 seconds. On October 31, 2004, Overeem fought Hiromitsu Kanehara, defeating him by TKO part-way through the second round at Pride 28. Overeem lost his next fight against Brazilian Top Team fighter Antônio Rogério Nogueira.

In 2005, Overeem entered the Pride Middle Weight Grand Prix at Pride Total Elimination 2005 where he defeated former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort, by submission, in the opening round. Overeem would move on to fight Igor Vovchanchyn in the quarterfinals at Pride Critical Countdown 2005 taking under two minutes to win via submission. Overeem lost in the semi-finals to the eventual champion Mauricio Rua.

In February 2006, Overeem fought Russian Top Team favorite Sergei Kharitonov. Overeem won the fight, dislocating Kharitonov’s shoulder in the process. With his win over Kharitonov, Overeem secured a spot in the Pride 2006 Open Weight Grand Prix at Pride Total Elimination Absolute. He fought Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist Fabricio Werdum, and lost via kimura in the second round.

Debut in Strikeforce

After his loss, Overeem traveled to San Jose, California to rematch Vitor Belfort at Strikeforce: Revenge. Overeem won the fight by decision in the evening’s main event.

Return to Pride

A month later Overeem returned to Pride for a highly anticipated rematch with Antônio Rogério Nogueira. Overeem entered the fight with a heavily taped neck. After controlling the first round and a half with his striking, Overeem was stumbled from a punch, Nogueira followed with a flurry of strikes. Worried Overeem would be more severely injured, his corner threw in the towel.

At Pride Final Conflict Absolute, he lost to Ricardo Arona. Overeem was on the receiving end of a leg kick that caused a non-serious injury to his nerves, causing him to lose feeling in his foot and leg. Unable to mount an offense or defend against Arona, Overeem tapped out to avoid further injury.

He then suffered another KO loss to Mauricio Rua at Pride 33, but returned in June 2007 with a submission win over Michael Knaap at K-1 Grand Prix in Amsterdam (despite K-1 being a kickboxing promotion, the bout was fought under MMA rules).

On September 17, 2007, at Hero’s 10: Middleweight Tournament Final Alistair faced Sergei Kharitonov again. Overeem showed solid movement as soon as the first round began, but he suffered a KO loss just before the end of the first round.

Return to Strikeforce/Dream/Dynamite

On November 16, 2007, Overeem defeated Paul Buentello for the vacant Strikeforce heavyweight title by submission due to knee strikes.

On June 15, 2008 Overeem won by KO in the first round against Lee Tae-Hyun at Dream 4. On July 21, 2008, Overeem defeated K-1 World Grand Prix 2001 champion Mark Hunt in the first round by submission at Dream 5.