It was recently revealed that UFC heavyweight legend Alistair Overeem signed to GLORY for a move to kickboxing. He says that there is only one opponent that would make him interested in returning to MMA.
With a long and storied career inside the world of combat sports, Overeem has accomplished nearly everything he set out to do. The one main thing that he never quite succeeded at, was winning the UFC’s heavyweight title.
After a recent failed attempt at one more push for the title, news broke that Alistair had been released by the UFC. Then, after a bit of negotiating with several promotions, he would up signing to GLORY where he returns to the world of kickboxing.
Alistair Overeem Never Considered Retirement
The way things seemed, given his age and the length of time he had been competing, was that Alistair Overeem might have been thinking of retiring. However that thought apparently never crossed his mind.
Speaking in a recent interview, the Reem explained that it was never a matter of retiring, just finding the right new home. He feels that he still has a lot to offer the fight game, and did not plan on calling it quits anytime soon.
“No. No, definitely not. No,” Overeem said when asked if he considered retirement. “I love the fight game. I still have some fights in me left.
“The way that the last fight went, you would not want your final fight to be like that. I did not envision that. So to me, I have a different closing of my career in mind, and I’m very proud that GLORY’s my new home, and we’re going to create that beautiful ending of a career.”
Returning To MMA For One Fight
Even though this move is to kickboxing, Alistair Overeem is not completely ruling out the idea of returning to MMA before he retires. In fact, he has one opponent in mind that he would like to face, before all is said and done.
He explained that he has had conversations with Bellator, which are still ongoing. If he can get a deal done, he says that he would love to return to MMA for a fight with heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko.
“It is possible that we are going to ride off in the sunset with GLORY, but to be honest there’s one name in the world that is out there, that is lingering, that I think the fans would want to see, that I want to see personally, that’s the Fedor fight,” Overeem said.
“So we’ll see if that’s a possibility, if he’s even open to it. Of course, he’s also getting on in age, but that is something that I could see happening.”
Would you be interested in a fight between Alistair Overeem and Fedor Emlianenko? Who would you like to see the Reem face in the kickboxing ring?
