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Even at 40 years old, Alistair
Overeem keeps finding ways to win.
After being outstruck for the better part of three rounds by
Augusto
Sakai in the UFC Fight Night 176 headliner, Overeem relied on
powerful ground-and-pound to down the stretch to earn a technical
knockout victory 26 seconds into Round 5 of their heavyweight
bout.
“He’s durable. I kind of knew that going in,” Overeem said after
the bout. “He was a little bit more durable than I thought. He’s an
up-and-comer, hungry, tough and punches hard. He punches a little
bit harder than I thought he would. He has dangerous legs—loose and
fluid. We had to drag it out to the later rounds and then get the
finish.”
It took patience and some adjustments, but the Dutch veteran was
able to end Sakai’s four-fight undefeated streak in the
Octagon.
“A first-round finish would be ideal—10 seconds would be ideal—but
this is the UFC,” Overeem said. “Everybody’s got a plan, cardio and
strategy to win. Sometimes you’ve got to be a little bit
patient.”
The former Strikeforce champion has won four of his last five
Octagon appearances dating back to November 2018 and has finished
each of his wins by TKO. The streak would likely be at five were it
not for a questionable late stoppage in a loss to Jairzinho
Rozenstruik at UFC on ESPN 7 this past December. While he isn’t
angling for a rematch with Rozenstruik, he would accept the
opportunity if it arose.
“Rozenstruik, I destroyed that man,” he said at Saturday’s
post-fight press conference. “I schooled him. In my opinion it was
a very bad decision by the ref, waving it off with zero seconds
left. I have no problem running that back. In my mind I already
beat him. It’s only on paper that he got it, and he knows it too.
But no problem running it back.”
Overeem challenged for UFC heavyweight gold once in 2016, falling
to Stipe
Miocic via first-round knockout. He believes he still has more
work to do to get another crack at the belt.
“If it was not for the Rozenstruik debacle, I would already be
there now,” Overeem said. “But I think I need another win.”
Overeem knows his time is limited in MMA, but for the time being,
he continues to win. That’s why he hasn’t set a clear timeframe for
the end.
“I’ve not decided it yet,” he said. “I’m gonna just see how it
goes. I still love it. I’m still improving. I still feel I can do
it. We just need to see it case by case.
“Probably one or two more years, maybe three. I don’t know.”
