Alistair Overeem has announced that he’s re-signed for the UFC, ensuring that we’ll be continuing to see him compete in the Octagaon for some time to come.
Overeem’s previous deal with the UFC came to an end after his TKO victory against Junior dos Santos at UFC On FOX 17 in December. That marked his third win in a row, having also defeated Roy Nelson and Stefan Struve, which left him in a strong position as he looked to negotiate a deal.
Initially the 35 year-old indicated that he wanted to test his worth on the free market which led to speculation that he might follow in Ben Henderson’s footsteps and make the leap over to Bellator, but it seems that the UFC were determined to retain the No.3 ranked heavyweight.
That seems like a smart move as the heavyweight division is already relatively thin talent-wise, and losing a high profile fighter like Overeem would have been a major blow – particularly when he’s pushing towards title contention.
Overeem originally arrived in the UFC back in 2011, fresh from an all-conquering run in the sport’s other leading organizations, claiming heavyweight titles for both the Strikeforce and DREAM organizations along with winning the K-1 kickboxing Grand-Prix for good measure.
A first round win over Brock Lesnar in his Octagon debut suggested he was on a collision course for the UFC title, but his form slipped after that, suffering losses in three of his next four fights which left him on the verge of being cut. However, his latest trio of wins have once again marked him out as a hot property and it will be interesting to see whether he can finally fight his way to a shot at the belt.
