Alistair Ubereem talks Fedor, M-1 ducking him and Grim

Derek Bolender: Rogers has been pretty vocal already leading up to the fight and calling you anything from a "coward" to an "egomaniac" and so forth. Has anything he has said bothered you up to this point?

Alistair Overeem: Yeah, I read "chipmunk" lately somewhere. I do my talking in the ring. I've got nothing much to say. I do not even read the forums that much anymore. I'm too busy with training. I was laughing about a Dutch forum called "Mix Fight." They posted Brett doing pads. People thought it was staged, the footage, that's how bad it was! But I go by my own game plan. I got my trainer Martijn de Jong and Cor Hemmers, and I got great management in Golden Glory, as well as tons of big named and skilled sparring partners. I will be very ready for this fight!

Derek Bolender: Rogers is coming off a loss to Fedor Emelianenko in November 2009. Have you seen tape of the fight? If so, what did you think of his performance against Fedor?

Alistair Overeem: I think Fedor is not the Fedor he was in PRIDE like so many of that generation of fighters. Fedor is the best and has beaten the best, but he is not unbeatable. Vadim (Finkelstein) recently made comments about me being a "steroid bully," and that's why they do not want to fight me? But then fighters who got caught three times with steroids in the past they want to fight.
Or when Vadim does a co-promotion on New Years Eve, the unranked Hong Man Choi can be picked as an opponent for Fedor, who is 20 cm taller than me and 40 kg heavier. Rogers showed some strength, but gassed in my eyes and gave Fedor room to come back because Fedor could smell that!


Derek Bolender: Do you feel Brett Rogers has done enough to deserve a shot at your Strikeforce heavyweight title?

Alistair Overeem: I am not really busy with that. I wanted to fight Fedor but my management knows the management of Fedor very well. There is too much risk business-wise to make that fight happen for M-1. If they lose they cannot play their co-promotion card anymore and M-1 will be over. Scott (Coker) will terminate all bindings with M-1 and continue with me and Golden Glory as he knows we are reasonable and we have been around for 10+ years. I think he got gray hairs from them already (laughs).

Derek Bolender: Is there any aspect of MMA that Brett Rogers is superior to you in?

Alistair Overeem: He looks strong. I will not get into the trainings video which appeared on YouTube. Many approached me and were laughing their heads off about Rogers' training performances. I take every opponent seriously, especially for the belt. Brett Rogers is just the next one on my list decided by promoter Scott Coker and my management.

Derek Bolender: Fedor Emelianenko is fighting Fabricio Werdum in June. His camp has also expressed interest in possibly fighting Josh Barnett in the future. Are you starting to feel like Fedor and his management are ducking you?

Alistair Overeem: I explained this in the press before. Of course they are ducking me. I am a risk to their whole organization. Vadim is embarrassing all the Russians. First not fighting Couture and now ducking me. At the same time he calls me a steroid bully in the Russian press. My manager will reply to that soon. But he still wants to fight fighters who have been caught three times using steroids! I will even wonder if Fedor is fighting in June. It always is a surprise party dealing with M-1. I got a nice scenario - Werdum gets injured and I have to fight Fedor in June. Just wishful thinking!

Derek Bolender: If you could pass along a message to Fedor directly, what would you say to him regarding this situation?

Alistair Overeem: Fedor, you are a great fighter and like many other great Russian fighters in history you do your talking in a ring or cage. Leave this M-1 circus and start fighting the best. It's okay to lose sometimes but hiding makes you look like a coward, which Fedor is not, Vadim is!



Overeem does make a good point about M-1 refusing to fight him because of the belief he is a steroid abuser yet they are just dying to fight Josh Barnett who has been caught three times for steroids.

There were actually some rational thoughts in there

I'd like to see these rogers training vids.

But as far as fighting the best, has alistair looked at his recent list of opponents?

and give me a break about M-1 giving coker grey hairs. This dude should have been stripped of his belt a year ago.

He's right, and I've said it before. If Fedor loses/retires M-1 no longer has their golden goose. I'm not saying they're avoiding Overeem because they're afraid he'll beat Fedor. But the fact remains that some of these fights Fedor is taking are worlds more dangerous than a "super fight" with Brock or something like that. If he were to fight Brock and lose at least he lost to a Champion. If he lost to Rogers, or loses to Werdum even by some act of some god that hates russians how will it look then for Fedor?

Fedor and M-1 is not ducking anyone, they are willin to fight anyone as long as M-1 get's promotional credit.

Overeem, whose most recent opponents have been Fujita, thompson and sylvester, looks like a fool criticising Fedor's opponents.

Overeem isn't the greatest heavyweight on the planet either, Cap. In fact Overeem would barely be top ten in the Heavyweight rankings even if we wasn't on roids. He won Strikeforce's title two years ago when they had nobody relevant in their roster. For christs sake he beat Paul Buentello for the vacant title. He's about to fight the guy who Fedor had some problems with up until Rogers gassed.

Sylvia, AA, Rogers vs Fujita, Thompson, Sylvester.

Overeem has no leg.

I hope he isn't comapring his opponents to Fedor's. Other than that he is right about everything else. Overeem and M-1 have given Coker gray hairs for the record.

How the fuck is Overeem gonna talk about people ducking fights? Werdum would have the Strikeforce belt this very second if Reem didn't duck the fight. Ducked AA at the new years show. I hope Grim knocks his ass into next week. The only halfway decent win Reem has is against Cro Cop, and that isn't really a win. This guy is bat shit crazy. "Fedor is ducking me", wow what a douche

for the record, he did not say Fedor is ducking him he said Fedor's management is ducking him. He said Fedor would not duck anyone.

captain organic wrote:

Fedor and M-1 is not ducking anyone, they are willin to fight anyone as long as M-1 get's promotional credit.

Overeem, whose most recent opponents have been Fujita, thompson and sylvester, looks like a fool criticising Fedor's opponents.

WRONG!!!!!!! I guess guys like GSP should just make another company to promote cards and want the UFC to let him in on the action after years of hard work and money they have shelled out? You Fedor Homers amaze me. I had an excuse in the past because I didn't know all the facts. Some of you have no reason for this bull shizzzzle! Strike Force should tell M-1 to get f#$%ked and the UFC should also. Then where will they be?

Still having the best Heavyweight in the world fighting below his skill level.

LudoCain wrote:

Still having the best Heavyweight in the world fighting below his skill level.

They both fight below their skill level. Atleast Reem is fighting Grim now. I would have to say that Reem and Grim are ranked closer to eachother than Fedor/Werdum are. I just hope after this fight Fedor calls him out next. I know he says he doesn't care about titles but he needs to shut Reem up.

Well Ludo, being the best heavyweight means your just about always fighting below your skill level. GSP and Anderson Silva are fighting below their skill level. Being the best means your better.