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Post by Ian from 616Entertainment. on Jan 2, 2009 22:42:46 GMT -5
I love Alistair Overeem as a fighter, and I am overjoyed to hear this. Now that an eventful 2008 is in the books, Alistair Overeem tells DreamFighters.com that he plans to take a little rest, go on vacation, and maybe even swing on over the Ireland to catch UFC 93 on January 17th. Lest you think it's purely a sight-seeing trip, the Dutch fighter says his management team has been in talks with the UFC and Affliction, and Overeem says he’s up for fighting everyone from Fedor Emelianenko to Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir. After seeing a very bulky Overeem destroy Badr Hari on New Year’s Eve, we can’t deny that we’d like to see him added to the UFC’s heavyweight stable. Even signing with Affliction would offer him a fresh list of opponents and probably a nice paycheck, though who knows for how long. But you put a guy like Overeem into the UFC's heavyweight division and suddenly you have a lot of interesting match-ups on the horizon, and they'd be particularly helpful in the UFC's European expansion attempts.
Overeem isn’t the only one thinking about stepping into the Octagon, however, as his old rival Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic says he’ll likely retire in 2009, and would like to have one more fight in the UFC before he does.
I don't know hot to take the Cro Cop news right now, though.
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BigEvilNerd
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Post by BigEvilNerd on Jan 2, 2009 22:46:07 GMT -5
It's for the best, to be honest. Cro Cop isn't 'old' in the sense he's still in his mid 30's but he is VERY old in terms of 'ring years.' He's had a lot of fights, MMA and otherwise, and he's accumulating a lot of injuries. Same thing that happened to Bas Rutten...long kickboxing career and a lucrative MMA career that ultimately just injured him enough to where he couldn't train to fight anymore. If Cro Cop retires in 09 he'll have at least salvaged some of his legacy instead of falling into the same trap as tons of other fighters who have held on way too long.
I'll still be sad to see him go though. Cro Cop was one of a kind in MMA...and a great sportsman and a great person and representative of the sport. He'll really be missed if he hangs them up.
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Post by NYdream™ on Jan 2, 2009 23:16:00 GMT -5
IM excited to hear that Overeem is in talks with UFC & Affliction. Id like to see him go to UFc because their HW division sucks and they need him... But Im sad to hear Cro Cop is retiring in 09. Im praying for Cro Cop vs. Randy Couture as a retirement match...
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BigEvilNerd
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Post by BigEvilNerd on Jan 2, 2009 23:19:07 GMT -5
IM excited to hear that Overeem is in talks with UFC & Affliction. Id like to see him go to UFc because their HW division sucks and they need him... But Im sad to hear Cro Cop is retiring in 09. Im praying for Cro Cop vs. Randy Couture as a retirement match... The frustrating part is, we could have actually seen that match if Cro Cop had gotten past Gonzaga, since Randy had just won the belt from Tim and Cro Cop was still running off his streak of wins coming out of the OWGP, and it was generally understood the winner of CroCop/Gonzaga was going to face Randy. Oh for the path not traveled...
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Post by James Hetfield on Jan 2, 2009 23:21:40 GMT -5
I have heard Cro Cop say in many interviews that he wants to "finish" his career in the UFC. Weather that means one last fight in the UFC or one last "run" in the UFC, it remains to be seen.
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BigEvilNerd
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Post by BigEvilNerd on Jan 2, 2009 23:23:58 GMT -5
Actually that gave me an idea...how about Cro Cop/ Nog II in the UFC? The first fight was excellent. Full of drama and had one of the slickest endings I've seen in MMA, particularly for a heavyweight contest. Both guys showed what they were made of.
Now that they've both lost a step (or a few in Cro Cop's case) it'd be interesting to see it happen. Kind of like how Wand and Chuck fought on the downside of their careers so the playing field was at least level.
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Gonzo Customs
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Post by Gonzo Customs on Jan 2, 2009 23:26:16 GMT -5
Overeem is definitely talented, I'd like to see him go to either. However, I noticed against Hunt earlier this year, to his most recent fight, the dude looks to have gained about 30 lbs of solid muscle.
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Bruiser Brody
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Post by Bruiser Brody on Jan 5, 2009 0:27:55 GMT -5
I would like to see both of these guys in the UFC. Not a big fan of Overeem though.
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Post by gordon on Jan 5, 2009 7:27:25 GMT -5
Overeem is so much better at Heavyweight, he could be a title player if he fights like he has recently
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