There was nothing on for him in Japan, so Alastair Overeem decided that all momentum for him to move forward lay with the UFC. A much needed move for the fighter. Why had it taken him so long to get there? We don’t know, but clearly it was either part of a cunning plan, or on his part, the insistence that he could create a mixed martial arts career for himself outside the bounds of the world’s leading fight organisation.
Outside the UFC, Overeem has beaten some of the best exponents in the ring, and that automatically put the spotlight on him. As with others, the spotlight has been lit disproportionately on fighters involved in Strikeforce cards, as opposed to being in the UFC. Overeem had far more exposure in Japan, in Dream, another MMA organisation.
Knocking out the likes of Todd Duffee as the main event in a Dream show, would likely only merit the bottom of the pay per view card in a UFC event. But what it certainly did was engender interest in Overeem, and fight fans will now get to see what he really can do against the best out there.
He was offered a title shot against the winner of incumbent champion Cain Velasquez and Julia Dos Santos but preferred to stay busy by taking a fight with Brock Lesnar instead. Now we will find out how good he is very quickly. If this was Overeem’s plans all along – it has worked very cleverly for him. He now comes into the UFC with a big bang – who knows had he come sooner whether he would have got passed the likes of Shane Carwin and Frank Mir?
All in all, the entrance of Overeem enhances the UFC heavyweight stack. And as a footnote, he was born in the UK, and if we decide to claim him as our own in the UK, he offers the only opportunity in the heavyweight division of a European fighter holding the belt any time soon.
Last month I spent time in San Francisco with Nick Diaz at his training camp. He revealed then as I sat in conversation with him for a cover story with the mixed martial arts magazine Fighters Only, that the man himself has a complex mind.
He showed then through the honesty of his words that he suffers from a degree of self loathing and battles with inner demons. Now, of course, having failed to show for two press conferences to publicise his welterweight title fight with George St Pierre at the end of October, he has been removed from the title fight. A real shame in my view, and for those heavily criticising Diaz, there should be more sensibility for the mind of this fighter. He definitely is different.
In Diaz’s place, comes Carlos Condit. Condit, whose father works in politics in Texas, is very polite and a great guy. When he came to London last year and knocked out Britain’s own Dan Hardy in the opening round of their bout, it mattered not that he was being jeered by the 20,000 stentorian crowd.
I’m going out on a limb – Condit is going to win against the GSP. We will have a new champion. Polite maybe, but when the bell goes Condit is a natural born killer. The switch turns. He has lost once in five years – a split decision to Martin Campmann – which I actually thought he won. He has bad intentions and the skill set to beat GSP. He’s aggressive, clever, sets up his attacks, has KO power, and although many may disagree this will be a tougher fight for GSP which I believe will create a new UFO Welterweight champion.
As for Diaz, he slides down the card to face B J Penn in what is probably a more exciting matchup than the original title fight.
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