A Champion's Clause Never Bound Alistair Overeem to Defend Title
by Leland Roling on Sep 8, 2009 1:14 PM EDT
in MMA News
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In an interesting interview by MiddleEasy.com in which they actually asked Overeem who would win in a fight between the 1993 version of Wesley Snipes and the 1986 version of Sylvester Stallone (Seriously? Rambo/Rocky wins), it was revealed that Strikeforce didn't bind Overeem to a champion's clause following his win over Paul Buentello for the championship belt:
If you could tell [Brett] Rogers one thing regarding his accusations, what would you say?
My contract with Strikeforce was only made about three months before the incident, I think they let me fight against (Vitor)Belfort and Paul (Buentello) to lose, but I won. Normally in a contract it says you have to defend your title within a certain period. But my contract just ended there. As I had a long term contract with FEG, I kept fighting for Dream and K-1. It’s ironic that we finally got an offer from Strikeforce and reached an agreement, and I get in some stupid brawl and cut my hand. In jail it got infected and it took longer than expected.
If you recall, Rogers made various statements regarding Alistair's motivation to actually come back to the U.S. to defend his belt. He came to the conclusion that Alistair was afraid of his hands and he was basically ducking him. Overeem states that he didn't actually have a contractual obligation to defend the belt until roughly three months before his incident with a few bouncers at a dance club.
If this is, in fact, true, it's strange that Strikeforce didn't have Overeem binded to some sort of clause if he were to become champion. It seems Alistair believes he was brought in to lose to Belfort or Buentello, and that's why there was no mention in his contract regarding such a clause. In any case, all of the hatred being produced by potential opponents seems to be uninformed aggression. It's likely that Rogers had no idea about Overeem's status with the promotion, and Strikeforce likely wanted to create a little buzz with some trash talk from Rogers even though much of it revolves around Overeem not defending his belt. It's interesting that fans also talked about Overeem staying out of the US due to his muscle-ridden physique, but according to Alistair -- he was never obligated to do so.
Overeem may still be on a long road back to actually stepping into the Strikeforce cage. He's currently scheduled to take on Mighty Mo at an October 17th event called the Golden Glory 10th Anniversary. He will also take part in the K-1 World Grand Prix Finals 2009 Opening Round on September 26th against K-1 veteran Peter Aerts in what could become a lengthy run in the K-1 Grand Prix tournament if he happens to win. That's a solid number of fights for Overeem in which he would have to remain injury-free. It'll be interesting to see if he can pull off that kind of workload.
With Rogers now scheduled to take on Fedor Emelianenko on a tentative date of October 10th, Alistair could be in line to take on former UFC fighter Fabricio Werdum sometime toward the end of the year. A Rogers' loss coupled with an Overeem win likely won't give Rogers a chance to back up his mouth, but at least the smack talk by Rogers could potentially spark some fireworks if both men happen to agree to a fight in the future.
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Sorry man, I already had it scheduled to publish. I saw yours a few minutes after I had written it. I’ll put in a link though.
Follow me on Twitter @lelandroling
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
by Leland Roling on Sep 8, 2009 12:06 PM EDT up reply actions
no it's cool..
you have wayyyyyy better commentary anyway. :)
i just wanted to know if you read it from mma for real, or my post, cause i myself read a lot of mma sites, but i haven’t heard of middle easy until this interview.. Didn’t mean anything negative by it, so don’t worry. :)
by Anton Tabuena on Sep 8, 2009 12:10 PM EDT up reply actions
I read it from another post through my Google Reader, but all the post did was link the quotes, so I went to the MiddleEasy site to read the rest.
Follow me on Twitter @lelandroling
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
by Leland Roling on Sep 8, 2009 12:13 PM EDT up reply actions
oh okay..
cause i have never seen that site and was also wondering how mma for real saw it. haha.
by Anton Tabuena on Sep 8, 2009 12:15 PM EDT up reply actions
MMA Convert did an article on it, that’s how I hit it.
Follow me on Twitter @lelandroling
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
by Leland Roling on Sep 8, 2009 12:21 PM EDT up reply actions
It’s sad how many comment threads begin with, “Why did the moderators delete my post” or whatever. Bu I don’t have any suggested fixes either.
Don't believe a word I say, I don't train BJJ.
I blog at TangleBones - you should follow me on Twitter here.
it’s sad that you didn’t read a couple of comments down to understand the context of our conversation, because I wasn’t asking nor suggesting anything like that..
It was from a source that wasn’t popular, and i was just asking if he saw it there (middle easy), from my post, or from the one that i saw it from (mmaforreal)..
by Anton Tabuena on Sep 8, 2009 1:37 PM EDT up reply actions
No, I saw that, but I also saw where Kid Nate did that to you earlier today and was thinking about that and wanted to say something but I was FAR TOO LAZY to go looking for it. :-)
Don't believe a word I say, I don't train BJJ.
I blog at TangleBones - you should follow me on Twitter here.
the gegard mousasi/paulo filho thing?
mine was just a fanshot, and if the staff think that a video is more news worthy, they put it up as an actual post to get more clicks in.. Fan posts have a minimum number of words required so we can’t do that for vids.
There are reasons why they do that.. aside from typing a post at the same time, or the few occurrences that they don’t see it at the sidebar… Most of the time, it’s either to make the fanshot an actual post like they do for video blogs, and sometimes they do that to add in their own commentary.
by Anton Tabuena on Sep 8, 2009 1:52 PM EDT up reply actions
I know – I was just saying that it sucks and I wish there was some better way to keep it from happening.
Don't believe a word I say, I don't train BJJ.
I blog at TangleBones - you should follow me on Twitter here.
make lots of big time sponsors pay BE, so that all the staff would work full time. haha..
People sometimes forget how time consuming all this is, so i don’t think we can eliminate the few times that they don’t see, or have the time to check, the fanposts…
by Anton Tabuena on Sep 8, 2009 2:14 PM EDT up reply actions
And I’m just saying that it’s been happening more and that I hope they can find a way around it….
People never seem to get me: I criticize because I CARE. And also because I hate Brock Lesnar.
Don't believe a word I say, I don't train BJJ.
I blog at TangleBones - you should follow me on Twitter here.
The only time it really happens… is when we either schedule a post ahead of time to publish later, or I’m writing a post while someone else posts and I don’t see it because it posts a few minutes before mine.
Follow me on Twitter @lelandroling
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
by Leland Roling on Sep 8, 2009 2:19 PM EDT up reply actions
SF could learn from the UFC in their contractual dealings...
then again, if that were the case they might not have gotten fedor hehe
the reason ppl sign with SF though is because their contract isnt binding
by Austin Martin on Sep 8, 2009 12:26 PM EDT up reply actions
that's what I'm saying
they should rethink that, because their fighters can just up and quit and go to the UFC whenever the UFC gives them a better deal.
i think we need to cut them some slack. they are basically just now starting as a major promotion and getting their act together.
by GregS123 on Sep 8, 2009 12:25 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
This.
That was their 8th show, as a regional promotion (the night Overeem won the title). Champions clauses and such probably weren’t a huge consideration then. It’s obvious they never stripped him of the title because a) They wanted him to come back someday; and b) They’ve never had any other marquee HW’s to fight for the title until now. This whole “Overeem won’t come to the US” thing seems to have been blown out of proportion.
http://www.fourouncestofreedom.com
I could understand if it was just one champion, but they also have Cung Le not doing anything either. And he was supposed to become the star of their promotion.
This, actually...
The way EliteXC, Affliction, and SF run their promotions does almost as much to legitimize the UFC as the one true legitimate MMA org in the world as the UFC does themselves.
Alistair being able to take sooo long in between defenses is nuts to me. And to hear that he has an MMA fight in Japan AND an entire K1 tourney (which he has a legit chance to win or make a lengthy run) before his next defense in SF is crazy. Could you imagine the Steelers taking time off from the NFL to play a game overseas, and then compete in a 7 on 7 tournament before defending their Superbowl title? Or GSP taking a year + off to fight Nick Diaz in Japan and then compete in a 6 month Karate tourney? It doesnt fly in the big leagues, and thats another reason why SF is not and will not be in the big league of MMA.
There was a conversation this weekend on one of these posts, about “what does the UFC expect to do, get every top 10 fighter in each class? Every top 20 fighter, or top 50 even?” “What do they expect to do, put every other competing org out of business?”
The answers are yes yes and yes.
The UFC is and has been setting itself aside as the preiminent MMA org on the planet. Their policies towards fighters and their contracts may be a little harsh, but they put on the best fights in the world with the best fighters in the world. Their champions clause may be encumbering to some fans or fighters, but to me it has to be done. The Lakers cant win the NBA title and hold out to try and play elsewhere, neither can Anderson Silva or Brock.
To top things off, they signed the person that most people (most is turning into “many”) consider to be the best p4p in the world, but they cant even have him in a title fight until 2010 because of Alistair’s crazy schedule. I saw a comment earlier in the week that ill go ahead and steal… How can SF convince fans (casual, the ones that will make them money) that this goofy looking Russian is the best in the world, if he’s not even fighting for the belt in their 2nd tier MMA org. ?
Casual fans can now see Fedor as no better than a guy like Carwin. Carwin has less than half the fights and wins as Fedor, but he’s fighting for the biggest title in the best org in the world. Fedor is fighting a tune up fight in a org that most people have never heard of.
SF has done a terrible job of handling this situation IMO. Their champs dont have to fight regularly and their biggest asset isnt being used properly.
They should have locked their champs up in a clause similar to the UFC’s (maybe a bit less constricting) that way, when they acquire a HUGE asset like Fedor, he has a huge stage (title fight) to prove himself on to the American fans and media. If this had been done, Fedor could have fought Alistair for the title in October, and Rogers would hopefully crush someone on the same card, just minutes before Fedor was unveiled to the world. If Rogers wins, then there is a huge fight set up for Dec/Jan. If Rogers loses, so what? That just means he wasnt good enough or ready to compete at the highest level (better to find out this way than by a 35 sec armbar from Fedor.)
You obviously cant blame Cung Le or Alistair, they are doing what they love and thay have an unparalleled level of freedom in their contracts. I understand SF may want to give their fighters more freedom so that their contracts will appear more appealing than the UFC’s, but when it starts to hurt your product (Le and Alistair not defending their titles) you have to change your approach.
Its a stark contrast. the UFC is looking to add weight classes so that they can put on more title fights to fill the increase of shows, and SF only has a handfull of shows a year but cant even get their own existing champs to headline them.
A true MMA fan from the great state of Arkansas.
by MMArazorback on Sep 8, 2009 2:13 PM EDT up reply actions 8 recs
Sorry
I dont have a lot of time to lurk or post during the day, so I usually try and get it all out in one post.
Plus, it seems like when I post somethin short in reply, it just starts an e-argument with people who I dont even know. Then i gotta keep on posting or i guess i’ll e-lose.
Im not big on internet fighting with people who could be either a 15 yr old skipping class, or an unemployed dude who spends 20hrs a day online.
A true MMA fan from the great state of Arkansas.
i don't like arguing over the net too,
but i don’t know if it’s just me, but i tend to not read uber long comments unless im really bored or unless the guy is talking to me directly..
plus, e-winning, and e-losing is lame, and it doesn’t really matter. haha. :)
by Anton Tabuena on Sep 8, 2009 2:53 PM EDT up reply actions
since my massive wall of text went green, ill rec your wall of text joke!
I guess on the interwebs, they call this an “e-tie!”
A true MMA fan from the great state of Arkansas.
stop e-counting, e-wins don't matter..
(quick, make this green so i’d be 1-0-1) :P
by Anton Tabuena on Sep 8, 2009 3:55 PM EDT up reply actions
What are the odds that Overeem ever even comes back to strikeforce ever?
Keep firing Assholes!
ZE GOGGLES! ZAY DO NOZING!!!!
Well, he signed with the promotion three months before the bar incident, so he’s locked in now. And apparently, I’ve heard some rumor he needs to fight twice in order to defend his belt, which makes no sense to me if he’s the current champion.
I mean, if he actually does well in the K-1 GP, that’ll end by December, but it’s risky because he could fight two – three fights in one night… and get hurt.
Follow me on Twitter @lelandroling
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
by Leland Roling on Sep 8, 2009 12:33 PM EDT up reply actions
maybe he needs to fight twice
in order to complete his other obligations… (to the K-1 guys)
by Anton Tabuena on Sep 8, 2009 12:45 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah, the rumor wasn’t specific. I wasn’t sure what it meant.
Follow me on Twitter @lelandroling
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
by Leland Roling on Sep 8, 2009 12:57 PM EDT up reply actions
There’s also the elephant in the room about PEDs, although my stance on PED use is innocent until proven guilty.
Keep firing Assholes!
ZE GOGGLES! ZAY DO NOZING!!!!
There is definitely that elephant in this room on this topic.
Follow me on Twitter @lelandroling
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
by Leland Roling on Sep 8, 2009 1:37 PM EDT up reply actions
Strike Force has to tighten up their contracts.
I’m sure the Overeem thing was a bit of an anomaly, but in the future, I think SF really has a problem on their hands. One of the benefits to fighting in SF is the ability to fight in other promotions. If SF continues to allow this, then you could potentially see their title fights get derailed due to timing, injury, etc. Already, their titles are a joke, with no one defending anything. What SF faces is a certain loss of control. Say what you want about the UFC, but at least their titles are denended on a regular basis. Sure, sometimes titles get sidelined due to TUF, but for the most part, you see the best fighting the best (within the UFC) with less chance of a fighter ducking another fighter. If SF goes to start limiting contracts, and starts to follow the UFC route, that pretty much eliminates much of their appeal, and really, if that were the case, given the choice between the two promotions, it would be easy to chose which one to go to (not to mention the fact that the UFC would probably pay better).
I love me some Sexyama!
Stallone v. Snipes
Squared off in the 1993 classic Demolition Man. However I think Blade beats any one of Stallone’s characters hands down.
Dont get down on Forrest, no one has moves like Anderson Silva.
now is that a coincidence?
or did the interviewer really ask him that cause the title of the movie was the same as overeem’s nickname?
by Anton Tabuena on Sep 8, 2009 1:32 PM EDT up reply actions
Probably because of his nickname
Follow me on Twitter @lelandroling
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
by Leland Roling on Sep 8, 2009 1:37 PM EDT up reply actions
What does Overeem walk around at??? He need to lean out a bit,he is carrying too much muscle,it showed in his last K1 fight against bonjasky,his cardio is suffering because of it
Sometimes you wonder, do they understand the game of football? They have a few drinks and probably the prawn sandwiches, and they don't realise what's going on out on the pitch.
Roy Keane
So Strikeforce has the business acumen of a drunk rabbit?
Color me surprised. Good luck with that Fedor contract fellas!
Don't believe a word I say, I don't train BJJ.
I blog at TangleBones - you should follow me on Twitter here.
It’s true – I insulted THEM with the comparison. SORRY!
Don't believe a word I say, I don't train BJJ.
I blog at TangleBones - you should follow me on Twitter here.
If this is, in fact, true, it’s strange that Strikeforce didn’t have Overeem binded to some sort of clause if he were to become champion.
1) I was telling everyone that Strikeforce had NO HW class, therefore, it didn’t make much sense for SF to tie up Overeem in order to stay in SF since there was no one to fight him. Not only that, but FEG was using him and he was making good money, so, it made sense at the time. They were a regional show back then, just getting started.
2) Strikeforce now has a championship clause.
3) Overeem will fight for Strikeforce end of the year, early next year. He will be fighting in the Golden Glory event against Gilbert Yel (rumored) with Strikeforce’s approval and permission.
But I think it would have made more sense to get him locked into a contract and then loan him out on a per fight basis, rather than have him win a belt and then run around willy nilly.
4. It’s “bound.” There is no “binded.”
Don't believe a word I say, I don't train BJJ.
I blog at TangleBones - you should follow me on Twitter here.
2) Strikeforce now has a championship clause.
But I thought champion’s clauses were immoral and akin to slavery. Does this mean Strikeforce has gone over to the dark side?
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