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This weekend sees longtime veteran Alistair Overeem take on Jairzinho Rozenstruik in the main event of the UFC’s 7th show on ESPN, and believe it or not, it’ll mark the 17th appearance inside the Octagon for ‘The Reem’.
The Dutchman has been fighting professionally since 1999, but there’s no doubt that his greatest successes have come since he made the move to the Heavyweight division in 2008. Since then he’s become one of the most feared fighters on the planet, and has held gold in practically every promotion other than the UFC.
And while Overeem hasn’t held the UFC Heavyweight title during his tenure with the promotion, he’s certainly proven fans who thought he’d be a bust after losing two of his first three fights there wrong.
Here are Alistair Overeem’s 5 greatest hits inside the UFC.
#5 Defeating Frank Mir to get back on track (2014)
Overeem signed with the UFC in 2011 as a big-time acquisition, as he’d held the StrikeForce Heavyweight title since 2008 and had won titles in DREAM and K-1 during the same period. He debuted with a big win over Brock Lesnar – more on that later – but despite being expected to go on to fight for the UFC Heavyweight title in 2012, a failed drug test derailed his career and took away his opportunity.
When he returned, ‘The Reem’ was knocked out in back-to-back fights by Antonio Silva and Travis Browne, and for many fans, the Dutchman was finished as a top level fighter. The UFC could easily have cut him from what was an expensive contract, but instead they gave him a chance to turn the corner against a former UFC champion in Frank Mir.
When the fight came around, Overeem more than lived up to his side of the bargain. He beat Mir from pillar to post across three rounds, hitting him with heavy knees and punches that had him stunned on more than one occasion. The Dutchman even dominated the skilled grappler on the ground.
The victory didn’t quite put Overeem back into title contention, but it certainly saved his UFC career, and it still stands as one of his best Octagon performances.
#4 Brutally knocking out Mark Hunt (2017)
2016 ended with Overeem failing in his quest to become UFC Heavyweight champion, as he was knocked out in violent fashion by champion Stipe Miocic in his title challenge. After the loss, a lot of fans once again wrote him off, but the Dutchman proved them all wrong in his next outing – a rematch with fellow K-1 champion Mark Hunt.
Hunt – one of the few fighters in the Heavyweight division to be able to boast as many striking credentials as ‘The Reem’ – had the Dutchman hurt in the second round of their fight, which was actually a rematch of a 2008 bout that saw Overeem win by submission. For the most part though, Overeem was able to break ‘The Super Samoan’ down from inside the clinch, and early in the third, his work paid off.
Overeem delivered a crushing knee to the head of Hunt, and before he could recover, another one landed with even more force and knocked him unconscious, sending him slumping to the canvas face-first. In a career full of epic knockouts, this was definitely up there with Overeem’s most vicious.
Incredibly, it was also later revealed that Overeem had nearly pulled out of the fight with a severe bout of food poisoning – a fact revealed by Dana White rather than the Dutchman, making the victory even more impressive.
#3 Stopping Andrei Arlovski to claim a title shot (2016)
When Overeem was knocked out by Ben Rothwell in late 2014, once again many fans wrote him off as a threat to the UFC Heavyweight title. But just three victories later, and only Andrei Arlovski stood between him and a shot at then-Heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic.
Technically speaking, Overeem probably had a claim to a title shot anyway prior to the Arlovski fight – but the UFC was going to the Netherlands for the first time, and so ‘The Reem’ decided to risk his shot for a chance to fight in his home country.
He didn’t disappoint. Despite Arlovski going after him early with a big flurry, Overeem was able to survive the onslaught and quickly took over the fight, taking ‘The Pitbull’ down and working him over with some strikes from the top to win the first round. The second round though was where the real magic took place.
Overeem began to break Arlovski down with strikes from the outside, and when the Belarusian dropped his hands for a moment, ‘The Reem’ stunned everyone by leaping in to catch him with a left crane kick to the jaw. The kick froze Arlovski in his tracks – and allowed the Dutchman to level him with a left hook that sent him down and out, ending the fight in an instant.
Post-fight saw the fans in Rotterdam go absolutely crazy for their hero, and after a win like this there could be no doubt that Overeem had truly earned his shot at the title.
#2 Debuting in style against Brock Lesnar (2011)
When Overeem was released by StrikeForce – owned at that stage by the UFC’s parent company Zuffa – there were some fears that the Dutchman wouldn’t make it to the Octagon at all. Those fears were quelled in late 2011 when it was announced that ‘The Reem’ had signed with the world’s biggest MMA promotion and would be fighting former Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar in the main event of the year’s final show.
To say the fight garnered a lot of hype would be an understatement; not only was this a clash of two of the world’s best big men, but it was also a fight that looked like something out of a movie. Lesnar came in as huge and muscular as he’d ever been before, while Overeem – in his full ‘Ubereem’ stage at that point – basically looked like a Greek god. This was indeed a clash of the titans.
And in the end, it was ‘The Reem’ who came out on top – and he made it look relatively easy. Staying on the outside and looking to avoid Lesnar’s takedown, the former StrikeForce champion picked at the former UFC champ with some early strikes before stepping inside to deliver some knees to the body – Lesnar’s apparent weak point after suffering from diverticulitis.
The effect was almost instant – the Dutchman’s strikes had Lesnar doubling over in pain, and once that had happened, the fight was only going one way. Overeem continued to attack the midsection before landing a vicious left kick to the liver, which caused Lesnar to freeze up before collapsing to the ground.
Some follow-up shots sealed the deal, and Overeem had won his UFC debut in style – closing out the era of Lesnar and cementing himself as the new scariest man in the division.
#1 Knocking out Junior Dos Santos in a grudge match (2015)
After his big win over Brock Lesnar, Overeem was pegged to face then-UFC Heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos for the gold in a match of arguably the two greatest strikers in the division. It was a fight everyone was looking forward to – but it wasn’t to be, as Overeem failed a drug test and was subsequently suspended for a year.
When he returned, Dos Santos was no longer champion following his loss to Cain Velasquez, and soon ‘The Reem’ would fall down the Heavyweight ladder too, dropping big fights to Antonio Silva, Travis Browne and Ben Rothwell, all by knockout. But despite both men’s issues, the appetite for a fight between the two never waned.
The UFC finally matched them together at the end of 2015 in what turned out to be a major grudge match, given their history. Strangely enough though, the first round failed to live up to the hype entirely; both men seemed concerned about the other’s striking power and simply stayed way too far out of range, turning the fight into a staring contest.
That changed in the second round; after a brief flurry from Dos Santos, ‘The Reem’ circled out and reset, before catching him cleanly with probably the greatest punch of his entire career – a picture-perfect left haymaker that knocked the Brazilian silly. ‘Cigano’ attempted to get up, but had no legs under him and some hammer fists to the head from Overeem sealed the deal.
Not only did the fight net the Dutchman a new, big-money contract with the UFC, but it also saved his reputation – no longer was he considered a UFC bust – and gave him probably the biggest win of his MMA career to date.
