Alistair Overeem in Talks With the UFC

DreamFighters.com had an interview with heavyweight fighter Alistair Overeem.  In that interview Overeem indicated that he was in negotions with the UFC as well as Affliction.  Certainly, the UFC has to be the frontrunner at this point in time for his services.   This is what Overeem had to say regarding the issue…

I am going on a holiday as I really trained hard whole 2008, beginning of February I will start training again, my management is in negotiations now, I might visit the UFC in Ireland on January 17th.  My management has been in contact with Affliction as well as the UFC

I am sure more will be learned regarding this as time goes on.  I do not know how high upthe priority list Overeem is for Dana White, but he is a solid add if they could lock him up.  I really believe he would be competitive with the top tier UFC Heavyweights in Mir, Nogueira, Lesnar, Couture, Kongo, Gonzaga, Carwin and Velasquez.  The UFC needs a little more depth at heavyweight and it appears they are striving to do so.  It is also rumored that the UFC is interested in re-signing Jeff Monson. 

Readers may note that in my list of guys the UFC may sign in 2009, Alistair was on that list.  I hope the UFC makes a good offer, but Affliction could be competitive as well.  However, could we see Overeem fight at UFC 99 in Germany? Maybe.

K-1 Fields Dynamite!! Results

Quick Results:

• Gesians Cavalcante vs. Joachim Hansen Cancelled (see below)
• Shinya Aoki def. Eddie Alvarez by Heel Hook in Round 1 (1:32)
• Mirko Cro Cop def. Hong Man Choi by TKO in Round 1
• Kiyoshi Tamura def. Kazushi Sakuraba by Unanimous Decision
• Hayato “Mach” Sakurai def. Katsuyori Shiabata by TKO in Round 1
• Daisuke Nakamura def. Hideo Tokoro by Armbar in Round 1
• Bob Sapp def. Akihito Tanaka by TKO in round 1
• Melvin Manhoef def. Mark Hunt by TKO in round 1 (:18)
• Semmy Schilt def. Siala “Mighty Mo” Siliga by Triangle Choke Round 1
• Ikuhisa Minowa def. Errol Zimmerman

Notes:

• The Joachim Hansen vs. Gesias Cavalcante bout was cancelled because of an apparent failed medical test by Joachim Hansen with a possible head injury of some type.  For more info check out Sherdog.com’s Article on The Cancellation
• Gegard Mousasi, Tatsuya Kawajiri and Alistair Overeem all won their respective K-1 rules bouts.

Mirko Cro Cop vs. Alistair Overeem Re-March at K-1 Dynamite

On September 26th Heavyweights Mirko Cro Cop and Alistair Overeem colided at DREAM 6 in a much anticipated bout.  There was a lot of words said before the fight which hyped the bout even more.  In the fight Overeem seemed to dominate Cro Cop, and then landed a couple of blows to the groin which caused Cro Cop not to be able to continue due to his testicles be pushed into his body!  I know, ouch!.  The fight was ruled a no contest.

    Cro Cop wants revenge this time and it looks like he will get it at the K-1 Dynamite show on New Year’s Eve according to a report from MMAJunkie The event takes place at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.  It should be an interesting bout between an angry Cro Cop who wants revenge against a talented fighter in Overeem.

MMABlog’s Heavyweight MMA Rankings

 

Below I posted my heavyweight rankings.  My other rankings will be posted today as well.  Certainly the rankings could change a litte bit following UFC 90.  I’d love to hear your debate and arguments as these rankings are somewhat subjective.

 

Rank	Name	Organization	Next Fight
1	Fedor Emelianenko	Affliction	Arlovski (#4) 1/24
2	Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira	UFC	Mir (#11), 12/27
3	Randy Couture	UFC	Lesnar (#16), 11/15
4	Andrei Arlovski	Affliction	Emelianenko (#1) 1/24
5	Josh Barnett	Affliction	1/24
6	Fabricio Werdum	UFC	Do Santos (NR), 10/25
7	Gabriel Gonzaga	UFC	Hendricks (NR), 11/15
8	Tim Sylvia	Afliction
9	Alistair Overeem	DREAM/Strikeforce
10	Cheick Kongo	UFC	Al Turk (NR), 12/27
11	Frank Mir	UFC	Nogueira (#2) , 12/27
12	Ben Rothwell	Affliction
13	Aleksander Emelianenko	Affliction
14	Mirko Cro Cop	DREAM
15	Sergei Kharitonov	DREAM
16	Brock Lesnar	UFC	Couture (#3), 11/15
17	Roy Nelson	Affliction
18	Cain Velasquez	UFC
19	Antonio Silva	EliteXC?
20	Shane Carwin	UFC
21	Heath Herring	UFC
22	Dave Herman	EliteXC?
23	Pedro Rizzo	Affliction?
24	Brett Rogers	EliteXC?
25	Ricco Rodriquez	EliteXC?

DREAM 6 Quick Results

Middleweight Grand Prix Semi-Finals:

Gegard Mousasi def. Melvin Manhoef via submission (triangle choke) — Round 1, 1:28

Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza def. Zelg Galesic via submission (arm-bar) — Round 1, 1:27

Middleweight Grand Prix Finals:

Gegard Mousasi def. Ronaldo “Jacare” de Souza via KO (upkick) — Round 1, 2:15

Non-Tournament Bouts:

Alistair Overeem vs. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic ruled a no-contest due to knees to the groin

Shinya Aoki def. Todd Moore via submission (neck crank) – Round 1

Yoshihiro Akiyama def. Masanori Tonooka via submission (arm-bar) – Round 1

Hayato “Mach” Sakurai def. Kuniyoshi Hironaka via unanimous decision

Sergei Kharitonov def. Jimmy Ambriz via submission (strikes) – Round 1

Masakatsu Funaki def. Ikuhisa Minowa via submission (heel hook) – Round 1

Atsushi Yamamoto def. Hideo Tokoro via unanimous decision  

Keita Nakamura def. Adriano Martins via split decision

Andrews Nakahara def. Dong Sik Yoon via TKO (strikes) — Round 2

Best Non-UFC Fighters

Here are the best non-UFC fighters.  This shows where the UFC is stacked and where they lack.  There competition is mainly in Affliction at heavyweight and DREAM at lightweight.  Here are the best non-UFC guys that the UFC should look to sign if possible. 

Rank	Heavyweight	Light Heavy	Middleweight	Welterweight	Lightweight
1	Fedor Emelianenko	Antonio Rogerio Nogueira	Paulo Filho	Jake Shields	Takanori Gomi
2	Andrei Arlovski	Ricardo Arona	Matt Lindland	Carlos Condit	Shinya Aoki
3	Josh Barnett	Rafael Feijao	Robbie Lawler	Jay Hieron	JZ Calvancante
4	Tim Sylvia	Vladimir Matyushenko	Kazuo Misaki	Nick Thompson	Eddie Alvarez
5	Ben Rothwell	Babalu Sobral	Gegard Mousasi	Mach Sakurai	Mitsuhiro Ishida
6	Mirko Cro Cop	Tito Ortiz	Vitor Belfort	Mike Pyle	Joachim Hansen
7	Roy Nelson	Steve Cantwell	“Jacare” de Sousa		Tatsuya Kawajiri
8	Aleks Emelianenko	Brian Stann	Jason Miller		Josh Thomson
9	Antonio Silva		Melvin Manhoef		Gilbert Melendez
10	Alistair Overeem		Murilio Rua		Vitor Ribeiro
11			Cung Le		Jamie Varner
12			Denis Kang		Ryan Schultz
13			Joey Villasenor		KJ Noons
14			Frank Shamrock		Nick Diaz
15			Yoshihiro Akiyama		Caol Uno
16			Jorge Santiago
17			Chael Sonnen

DREAM 4 Results and Thoughts

Quick Results from DREAM 4:

Shinya Aoki defeats Katsuhiko Nagata by Submission (Gogoplata) in Round 1:  5:12
Alistair Overeem defeats Tae Hyun Lee by  KO (Punches)  at :36 of round 1
Ralek Gracie defeats Alavutdin Gadzhiyev by armbar submission at 3:02 of round 1
Hideo Tokoro defeats Darren Uyenoyama by unanimous decision
Gegard Mousasi defeats Dong Sik Yoon by Unanimous Decision
Zelg Galesic defeats Taiei Kin by TKO (Elbow Injury) at 1:05 of round 1                                                Ronaldo “Jacare” de Souza defeats Jason “Mayhem” Miller by unanimous decision
Melvin Manhoef defeats Kazushi Sakuraba by TKO (Punches) in round 1

Most Impressive Performance: Melvin Manhoef

Knock Out Of The Night: Alistair Overeem

Submission Of The Night: Shinya Aoki

• Jacare proved he can fight with the best at 185 lbs.
• Shinya Aoki had an excellent submission on Nagata (a gogoplata)
• Alistair Overeem had a vicious KO
• Melvin Manhoef rolled through Japanese legend Sakuraba

Also: The Semi-Finals were announced for the lightweight Grand Prix, which is to be held in July at DREAM 5.  They are Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Eddie Alvarez and Caol Uno vs. Shinya Aoki.