Alistair Overeem says Rico Verhoeven should avoid Francis Ngannou in MMA, and he still has unanswered questions about Alex Pereira moving from light heavyweight to heavyweight.
Overeem is a former Strikeforce heavyweight champion, DREAM heavyweight champion, K-1 World Grand Prix winner, and former UFC heavyweight title challenger. Verhoeven is a longtime GLORY heavyweight champion. Ngannou is a former UFC heavyweight champion and former PFL Super Fights heavyweight champion.
Overeem focused on the wrestling and submission gap when discussing Verhoeven against Ngannou after MVP had offered that fight.
“I think against Francis he would not make much of a chance, just basically because he’s missing the wrestling and the submissions. He’s just not training that, right? And it takes years to develop that and it shouldn’t be underestimated.”
Watch the full interview below:
Overeem Says Francis Ngannou Is The Wrong MMA Fight For Rico Verhoeven
Overeem said Verhoeven and his team were right to avoid MMA because one camp cannot replace years of grappling work.
“I think that he and his team have made a wise choice to kind of stay out of MMA, because you’re not going to catch up with that years of experience just like that in a training camp.”
Overeem called Derrick Lewis a more interesting option, but said the UFC route would limit Verhoeven’s flexibility.
“Derrick Lewis would be an interesting fight, but at the moment the heavyweight division might be somewhat on the weaker side, but still you’re tied down in UFC and it wouldn’t give him the flexibility.”
Overeem said boxing fits Verhoeven better than chasing a UFC heavyweight title without the wrestling base. Verhoeven has crossed paths with Ngannou before, including past training work ahead of UFC 270, but Overeem does not see an MMA matchup with Ngannou as a smart jump.
“Chances for him to get the UFC title, which would also give him the path to the movies, is slim because he just doesn’t have the wrestling.”
Overeem’s bluntest warning was for Ngannou.
“Francis Ngannou is totally a no-go area. Stay away from that.”
Overeem Says Alex Pereira’s UFC Success Still Surprises Him
Pereira is a former UFC middleweight champion and former two-time UFC light heavyweight champion. His heavyweight move points toward Ciryl Gane, a former interim UFC heavyweight champion and top UFC heavyweight contender, after their UFC Freedom 250 faceoff put the matchup in focus.
Overeem said Pereira remains hard to judge because his UFC run has not fully answered the grappling question.
“That man is an enigma anyways because he’s a kickboxer. Have we ever seen him on the ground? Yeah, a little bit on his back, but is he even training on the ground? So he’s a little bit an X factor.”
Overeem admitted Pereira’s UFC success beat his early expectations.
“Looking at him from the beginning, I wouldn’t give him any wins, but apparently he’s winning.”
Overeem said Pereira still needed deeper wrestling development when discussing his ground skills at UFC entry.
“What ground skills does the man have? He doesn’t have any ground skills. Now of course he’s trained a little bit ground, but in my opinion you need years of wrestling to kind of be able to deal with wrestlers from UFC.”
Overeem said Pereira’s Israel Adesanya rivalry did not settle the grappling question.
“We had the feud with Adesanya, but not really tested on the ground, I think.”
On Pereira against Gane, Overeem still leaned against the move, even while admitting Pereira keeps surprising him.
“Again, I would think absolutely not, but maybe he would. I don’t know. He continues to surprise.”
