Overeem eager to parlay win into better deal
Ultimate Fighting Championship star Alistair Overeem wagered big on himself before a fight against former heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos in Orlando, Fla., on Saturday.
Overeem’s gamble paid off when he scored a huge knockout in the second round and now he’s ready to collect.
He decided not to negotiate a contract extension before the fight, which he entered as nearly a plus-300 underdog.
Now Overeem will hit the open market on the heels of three consecutive wins, with his value as high as it has been in years.
“My focus was on this big fight. My entire focus was on it. My entire focus is on training and preparing and in that, I just do 100 percent that and nothing else,” he said after the win. “So this is a new reality. I’m going to have to look at it and what’s going on, and I’m absolutely looking forward to it.”
Overeem’s not technically a free agent. After an exclusive negotiating period with the UFC ends, he will be able to hit the market and get an offer that the UFC could decide to match.
He is still a big star in Asia and could elect to fight there. Overeem is also believed to have a strong relationship with Scott Coker, the former Strikeforce chief who now runs Bellator MMA.
But Overeem has said the one achievement missing from his career is a UFC title. He could try to press for a shot at the belt as part of a deal to re-sign with the UFC.
“I do think that a title shot is there,” he said. “I’m very confident with the team and the people I have around me, that I can pull that off.
“Let’s negotiate and see what happens.”
For now, he said he looks forward to returning to the gym next month to get ready for what’s next, wherever that fight may happen.
* IT’S 155 NEXT FOR MCGREGOR — In a column penned for Irish sports website The 42, John Kavanagh indicated his star pupil’s next fight will be for the lightweight title.
“What’s next for Conor (McGregor)? The lightweight belt,” Kavanagh wrote before Rafael dos Anjos defended the belt with a 66-second knockout of Donald Cerrone on Saturday. “We’re going to take a little break from that cut down to 145 (pounds), even though this one was the easiest so far. But in saying that, ‘easy’ is a relative term. It still requires a level of discipline that 99.9% of people wouldn’t have, never mind be able to compete as well the following day.”
Kavanagh said McGregor, who became the featherweight champ with a 13-second knockout of Jose Aldo in Las Vegas on Dec. 12, will fight for the lightweight belt sometime around April before defending the featherweight title in the summer.
“If Frankie Edgar wants a shot at the featherweight title or Aldo wants a rematch, we’re fine with that,” he wrote “But they’ll have to wait, because that lightweight belt is next on the agenda.”
* PENA ARRESTED — Rising UFC women’s bantamweight star Julianna Pena was arrested early Sunday morning after her involvement in a fight outside a bar in her hometown of Spokane, Wash., several media outlets confirmed.
The story first surfaced on message boards and social media Sunday.
According to published reports, Pena was arrested at 2:20 a.m. and booked into jail just before 3 a.m. She was released on $2,000 bail about 12 hours later.
Pena, the winner of Season 20 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” was arrested and charged with two counts of assault. The 26-year-old is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Jessica Eye in October, her third straight victory.
* FEDOR HAS A FIGHT — After months of speculation as to what direction Rizin Fighting Federation officials would go in naming a replacement opponent for heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko’s return to competition on New Year’s Eve, the organization will go back to the original plan.
RFF officials announced Emelianenko will fight Jaideep Singh, who was originally reported as his opponent in September.
MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani broke the news several months ago that Emelianenko would fight Singh on Dec. 31 at Saitama Super Arena in Japan to headline an event that will air on Spike TV in the United States.
RFF, which is headed by former Pride Fighting Championships boss Nobuyuki Sakakibara, never confirmed the news amid rampant criticism about the lack of competitiveness and has allowed speculation to run rampant in the meantime about just who would face Emelianenko, who hasn’t competed since June 2012.
The 39-year-old Russian former Pride champion will now officially take on Singh, a kickboxer who has won both of his professional MMA fights, on New Year’s Eve.
— Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him: @adamhilllvrj
