Overeem explains his departure from the GP and blames ZUFFA as the main responsible

MMA fans around the world were taken by surprise last Monday (18), when the Dutchman alistair overeem was withdrawn from the Strikeforce heavyweight tournament. The fighter was removed from the contest for refusing to face Brazilian Antônio Pezão on September 10th, since, according to the athlete's statements, he would have little time to prepare for the fight. Current champion of the event and considered one of the favorites in the tournament, Overeem did not hide his disappointment with the organization of the show.

“Of course I'm disappointed. Winning the tournament was my goal this year. They had to understand my position. I'm very disappointed and I don't know how to deal with it”, said Overeem, in an interview with the North American website MMA Fighting. The fighter also explained why he was removed from the GP and made a point of putting an end to all the rumors that had arisen in recent days.

“I don't like to talk about my contract negotiations, but the rumors about me leaving the GP are all false. Everyone is trying to find reasons why I was removed from the tournament, but I can say it's not that difficult,” said Alistair, who explained the situation. “Strikeforce promised me a date in the fall (North American, between the months of October and November), I went on vacation and would start my training in August. But then they decided to change the date and do it in September. I had to refuse the fight because I know it takes a very short time to prepare, so they decided that the show would have to continue with one of the substitutes”, explained Overeem, who accuses ZUFFA, the company that owns the UFC and bought Strikeforce in March. , to change the date so as not to interfere with Ultimate's commercial interests.

“I'm not sure, but my guess is that when ZUFFA took over Strikeforce they had other interests. If you look at the month of October, the UFC will hold three events and two of them are big and have title fights. As a result, they will not want a Strikeforce GP semifinal to be broadcast live on Showtime without PPV sales”, said the Dutch fighter, who hopes to return to fighting in Strikeforce itself, in October.

“I like fighting, and as I told you, I will be ready according to the first date we agreed with Strikeforce, which is in October,” he concluded.