Alistair Overeem is contemplating a return from retirement after announcing that he was calling it a career back in 2023.
The former Strikeforce heavyweight champion and one-time UFC title challenger revealed that with his health improved, he’s been working towards a potential comeback. Overeem retired after dealing with a multitude of injuries that made his training camps nearly impossible to get through and he felt like fighting was over for him.
But three years later along with a lot of recovery and Overeem believes he can still fight at the highest levels.
“The thing is I retired three and a half years ago,” Overeem said during the Oleksandr Usyk vs. Rico Verhoeven card. “Injuries took me out of the sport. Took me out. I couldn’t train. I was actually in pain. I dove into longevity. A lot of ice baths, a lot of dry needling, a lot of everything and actually healed my body.
“There is motivation. We’re just looking at options. Like what can we do, what should we do? I also just turned 36 but I feel better than when I was still fighting. Because I just did all that longevity stuff, longevity activities.”
Overeem retired in 2023 but he hasn’t fought since 2022 when he returned to kickboxing for a showdown against Badr Hari in GLORY. Originally, Overeem won his fight by unanimous decision but the result was eventually overturned to a no-contest after he tested positive for a banned substance.
Prior to that fight, Overeem lost via knockout to Alexander Volkov in the UFC back in 2021 and that served as the fight bout in the promotion.
As far as options, Overeem didn’t hint if he was considering a return to MMA, kickboxing or even boxing but it sounds like he’s open for business for the right opportunity.
Overeem did address a potential matchup against Rico Verhoeven, who nearly shocked the world this past Saturday in his fight against Oleksandr Usyk before a controversial stoppage ended the fight in the 11th round. He addressed the fight before Verhoeven nearly became heavyweight champion and Overeem had nothing but praise for the former GLORY king.
“I wouldn’t disrespect him like that,” Overeem said about Verhoeven. “This is his moment. Let that be. But I mean I got the question from a reporter ‘is there still some unfinished business?’ Listen for MMA, he’s not an MMA guy. I wouldn’t even need to train because I would just beat him. For boxing, I would need a little camp.
“Rico is an icon. He’s an icon, the kickboxing world is behind him, clean image, he’s actually a good guy.”
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