Keiichi Sasahara explains Alistair Overeem's absence from this weekend's Dream 15
Posted on July 8, 2010, 09:33 AM by Daniel CassidyWith a proposed bout between Allistair Overeem and Ricco Rodriguez now dead and buried, fans had hoped to see Overeem fight regardless, but with the Strikeforce Champ making it crystal clear he will not be taking part in Dream 15 this coming weekend.
But with so much talk going back and forth, fans had looked for a reason from the Japanese company, and Executive Producer, Keiichi Sasahara released the following statement, be warned, it doesn't really clear much up:
"Towards the end of the negotiations, because of reasons that I am not able to tell you, although the two fighters agreed to fight, it happened that these fighters could not fight. It's not because of money, but if the reasons are something that I cannot tell you then you might be able to guess what they would be. Because of that, we are not able to have these two fighters fight.
"I just want to you explain to you the background of this. Alistair was supposed to fight Andrei Arlovski and they actually both agreed, we were ready to make an official announcement and then of course then the contractual agreement needed to be signed by both fighters. However towards the end of the negotiations, because of reasons that I am not able to tell you, although the two fighters agreed to fight, it happened that these fighters could not fight. It's not because of money, but if the reasons are something that I cannot tell you then you might be able to guess what they would be. Because of that, we are not able to have these two fighters fight.
"So Alistair was supposed to fight at DREAM.15 and we were trying to find new fighters or other fighters for Alistair. We offered the Alistair fight to many different fighters, but Alistair was motivated to Arlovski. Arlovski is not an easy fighter to find a replacement for. And again, we were not able to find a replacement.
"Alistair was supposed to fight Arlovski and we didn't know who was going to be the winner. The winner was then supposed to fight at DREAM.16 in September for the heavyweight championship. But that scenario is now gone. We need to think about whether we will have the championships anyway. Maybe we will move to plan B. In any case, we would like to plan some other fighters for Alistair in the future.
"I think there is a possibility [that the fight will happen in the future]. You know, these two fighters, personally agreed [to fight]. But that didn't happen. Of course we want these two fighters to fight in the future, it would be a great fight. However when we think about fighter's feelings, they might not want to think about it for a while so maybe we should give them some time."
This weekends card will be headlined by a bout between Japanese maga stars, Shinya Aoki and Tatsuya Kawajiri in a bout for the Dream Lightweight belt.
HT: MMAFighting.com
Comments
I just don't get it....what could the reason for not fighting be?
Also, was it unanimous from both fighters or one of them bailed out.
Anyway, my guesses are :
1)One of the fighters, has booked another match with a different organization to be held soon.
2)Failed steroid test (do they excist in Japan nowadays?)
3)Somekind of health issue, which sould stay hidden from the public.
Nah, Overeem pretty much said he wanted to fight Arlovski for the title and that fell through and he had no interest in fighting Ricco Rodriguez for no title. They don't steroid test in Japan.
roids
its not roids, overeem said so himself, he put all that muscle on from eating horse meat!. honestly
Its good thing for andre arvloski that a fight between him and ubereem fell apart or he might be looking at 4th loss in a row not mention gettin ktfo again
I reaplly have no idea what they are talking about either. Someone have a clue to this?
Yo Dan this is the most puzzling article ever hahaha!!!
Juice.
Just the rumor has said "Roids" or not.Hes very exciting fighter and one of of the best HW in my book.imo