Alistair Overeem Removed From Strikeforce World Heavyweight Grand Prix

When Strikeforce first announced its Heavyweight Grand Prix, just about everyone was excited. A lot of people perceived it as an important step forward on the long road towards becoming a legitimate alternative to the UFC. It doesn’t get much better than having all the best Heavyweights in the division fight each other, and the tournament has already given us some very interesting outcomes. However, it’s recently been announced that Alistair Overeem, the Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, has been removed from the tournament in a very controversial move by the now Zuffa-owned Strikeforce. Here are all the details.

MMA Fighting gives us a pretty good breakdown on the situation. In an interview on “The MMA Hour” with noted journalist Ariel Helwani, Overeem stated that Strikeforce officials had contacted him to let him know that he would be fighting September 10, which is the rumored date when Strikeforce will hold the Heavyweight tournament semi-finals. Overeem didn’t agree to the bout, saying that he would rather fight in October.

Overeem was then apparently threatened with removal from the tournament if he decided to stand his ground. Overeem responded by saying that he didn’t like to be threatened. Zuffa’s response was pretty simple: we don’t make threats. A few hours after the interview with Overeem went out, it was reported and eventually confirmed that Overeem had indeed been pulled from the tournament and will now be replaced by undefeated prospect Daniel Cormier.

Part of me is completely baffled by this announcement, and another part understands it completely but doesn’t agree with it at all. The optimist in me has to wonder… why would you take out one of the biggest attractions of this tournament simply because he wanted to wait a month to fight? Whatever happened to negotiating with a fighter, whatever happened to give-and-take? Strikeforce used to bend over backward to accommodate their top-division fighters, and now one of the most exciting fighters of this tournament has been pulled simply because he wanted to fight in October and not September.

On the other hand, the realist in me knows that Zuffa wanted and perhaps even needed to make an example out of Overeem. This is the new regime, and they don’t play by the old regime’s rules. Apparently, if you’re a Strikeforce fighter you now fight when and where Strikeforce tells you, and if you don’t agree then there’ll be consequences. By singling out one of Strikeforce’s biggest stars, their Heavyweight champion in fact, Zuffa has sent the message that they’re not to be messed with and that no one fighter is more important than the organization itself.

Also, Overeem has made a good living in Japan, both in K-1 and Japanese MMA promotions, and his Strikeforce contract allows him to compete for other organizations. The UFC has been notoriously opposed to allowing their fighters to fight anywhere else. Perhaps that has something to do with the situation.

In the end, I have to say that I don’t agree with this decision at all. Alistair Overeem may not have given the best performance against Fabricio Werdum recently, but I was incredibly pumped up for what should have been an awesome striking war against Antonio Silva. I don’t think Overeem was making any huge demands, and I don’t think he was being unprofessional. I think the UFC saw an opportunity to make an example out of someone and they took it. And while it may be a smart business move, it certainly comes across as incredibly callous.