Filed under: Strikeforce, News
Early on Monday afternoon, Alistair Overeem revealed on The MMA Hour that he may not be ready to fight at September 10's Strikeforce World Grand Prix semifinals. It turns out, he won't have to be.
UFC president Dana White, who as a Zuffa co-owner oversees the Strikeforce brand, told MMA Fighting that Overeem is out. White's confirmation backed up an original report from Tatame, which reported that Overeem was out and Daniel Cormier will replace him.
But while there was speculation as to whether this meant the end of Overeem's run in Strikeforce, White also told MMA Fighting that while Overeem is out of the tourney, he is still employed by the company.
Overeem, the current Strikeforce heavyweight champion, won his quarterfinal round fight against Fabricio Werdum on June 18 via unanimous decision.
A September 10 semifinal would have been a three-month turnaround, and Overeem said that he could not be ready after taking vacation and nursing some injuries. He added that Zuffa had threatened to remove him from the tournament if he would not participate.
"I don't know if they're going to do it," he said. "Personally, I don't like to be threatened. If people start talking like that then...be my guest, but then I'm really not going to sing to their tune."
He also discussed the possibility of boxing in the future against one of the world champion Klitschko brothers. For now, he has no date in either MMA or boxing, though a non-exclusive MMA deal gives him the ability to compete overseas.
The 8-0 Cormier will step in to face Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva, Overeem's originally scheduled opponent. The other semifinal pits Sergei Kharitonov vs. Josh Barnett.
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Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/07/18/alistair-overeem-out-of-grand-prix-semis-but-still-a-strikeforc/
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