Strikeforce releases Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem

i really dont know what to think of this until he has his next fight signed

My guess is he either decided to rebel against the Zuffa authority, or they're moving him to the UFC.

yea i think he's rebelling against Zuffa i think him not taking the tournament fight earlier then scheduled was perfect example of him not always gonna do what zuffa wants and im sure Zuffa boys where pissed and let him be the example that everybodies expandable..just one opinion though!!!!

Dude Zuffa Owns Strikefore if you didnt so Zuffa has everything to do with the tournament yea Scott coker is the owner but zuffa has the last word on everything!

2010?

We are just going to have to wait to see how this plays out this is obv the beginnings of a plan set in motion, or of a falling out.

This is sad hopefully UFC gets him cause I really want to see him fight top guys

I can't believe this shiit.....So sad to see fighters treated like dogs. It's either Zuffa's way (cough, cough, Dana, cough) or find another job. So disappointed, what happened to "what the fans want"?

I SEE TWO OBVIOUS REASONS FOR THE RELEASE OF ONE OF THE TOP HEAVYWEIGHT DRAWS IN MMA:

1) ZUFFA / DANA IS TELLING EVERYONE THAT THERE IS A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN AND THAT REGARDLESS OF YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS AND CALIBER, YOU CAN BE CUT OFF. EVERYONE HAS TO SAY "YES" TO THE MANAGEMENT...



2) ZUFFA WILL RE-HIRE THE REHABILITATED REEM. HE'LL HAVE TO SIGN AN EXCLUSIVE CONTRACT THAT WILL MOST LIKELY PREVENT HIM FROM FIGHTING IN K-1 TOURNAMENTS AND OTHER MMA ORGANIZATIONS. HE WILL ALSO HAVE TO GIVE HIS "CRAZY" DREAMS OF BOXING...



DANA SAID HE CAN DO WHATEVER HE WANTS. WE BELIEVE HIM NOW, DON'T WE?

Yea i think the theory of this just being a way to get him in the UFC is totally False...i dont think Zuffa will go through all the trouble of lying,secrecy,and the rep of being ****s to get fighters out of SF just to get him in when they can get him out of contract like they did Nick Diaz!!!Just doesnt seem like a Zuffa Move! i will say he'll sign with the UFC in the near future wouldnt have been the plan all along but there will be nowhere else for him to go!!!

I understand what you are saying here, but there has been no official word on his release, only that he has, in fact, been released. So it wouldn't be any kind of lie or cover up. It would be what they intended all along. IF thats how things turn out I mean...

It's hard to believe that Alistair got released by Strikeforce, but like most of you, I think something big is probably going to come out of this for him. In the meantime, I'm going to wait and see what happens before I draw any conclusion.Good Luck Alistair.

Hoping like everyone he will be in the ufc, but this doesn't look like the road to that goal, looks to me zuffa is pushing the reem away from them and viceversa.

Imo they will dicredit the reem and not get him to sign for them at all.

HOPING I'M WRONG !

Something tells me you know who killed Kennedy.

Yes, but his fight with United Glory has been confirmed for a couple days now and it's perfectly acceptable in his contract. So, I don't think they cut him for fighting elsewhere in the interim.

The only thing precluding them from bringing The Reem into the UFC other than a worthless gentlemans agreement between de-nutted Coker and Dana is the Showtime contract.



Strikeforce is a sinking ship and soon to be extinct when that Showtime contract expires. Zuffa bought Strikeforce for the fighters not to run 2 promotions.



This is a round-a-bout way of getting The Reem a year early.

If the UFC does indeed sign him .. watch for Showtime to cry foul.

yea they get along but if you've followed interviews of the both of them dana says he likes him but never showed any interest or said he's in a hurry to get overeem in the ufc...and overeem never seemed like he was in a rush to be a UFC fighter either!!!

I dont think any of you are right...

Alister has talked about going into boxing for sometime now...



I dont think he did very well against Werdum eventhough he won...

I think he is scared to go against bigfoot toe to toe...

Him stepping out because his toe is broken or him not being ready is BS.. now you pissed off Zuffa, Dana and everyone else..= Your Released....



I dont think Dana and UFC are anywhere interested in pickin up Alister...



If something doesnt develope quickly, then you know what happened.

Its no different than with Fedor,,,Dana smilled on the last two losses...

Its sad but Fedor hasnt beat anyone really credible in a long time....

if any they have all been UFC releases......

While I can sort of agree with some of what you said, I'm not going to come up with any theories as to if he was BSing or not. That's opening up a whole new bag of worms.



If we go that route, who knows if he really wasnt ready or his toe injury was real (even though he did give some conflicting info on the toe), and also who knows if the theories of him not being able to take a fight early because of cycling steroids are true. Who knows if he didnt want to face Bigfoot or possibly any of the other top competition in the future?



I'd rather comment on what we actually know, rather than come up with theories.

Aaaaannnnnd Fedor II is born. It must be like tradition to always have an heavyweight fighter the zuffa guys can't fight around just to spart flame wars on the internet.

That's a good point and i think it will go the same route!

Dana, Dana, Dana, Dana.

Оверим трус. Таких надо выгонять.

thats bullshit

shows that no man is bigger than the organization... unless your kimbo for elite XC

or Josh Barnett for Affliction

this doesnt make sense though.

Releasing your champion because he has a injury.

I had a feeling this was coming by how he was talking in his interviews. You could tell he was rebelling against what they wanted from the fact that he gave multiple reasons for not taking the fight, and in his interviews misleading like he did not know why he was removed from the fight.



I'm sure something else happened within that time though, they didnt "release him because he has an injury". Dana mentioned in an interview AFTER Alistar was out of the tournament, that they were going to try to set up another fight for Alistar around the original fight date.



So something obviously happened between then and now. He probably told them he could not take another fight because he is already scheduled to fight in United Glory in October.



One thing is for sure though... People are talking like this is a move to get him in the UFC? I'll guarantee you that's not going to happen. Say what you want about Zuffa but they know how to do business, and it would be bad for business to reward someone with coming to the UFC after not being willing to work with them. Alistar also showed no incentive that he wanted to work his way to the UFC, in his interview he talked like he was too good for them and there are other places he could find better fights, so they arent going to reward that either.

Totally agree. I grow increasingly unimpressed with Allistar both in and out of the ring. He kept talking as if he was above dealing with Zuffa because they were "disrespectful." Evidently, if someone doesn't agree with this guy or tries to negotiate a business deal, they are disrespectful. He's a prima donna- no way in hell he's gonna fight in the UFC and at this point I could care less.

Oh fer f@$ks sake.

This is pretty surprising. This is either very good or very bad.



Strikeforce could still be pissed that Overeem put on a bad performance against Werdum, and they wanted him to make up for it, he couldn't fight that quickly, and so they cut him, OR he's getting a deal with the UFC just like Diaz. Either way, it's very unexpected.

UFC and Dana destroying this sport just truying to make money dosent help they just wana close down SF down

overeem is finished in the us now

i think Overeem brought this on himself he made it worst by saying



"The thing is, there's other promotions. There's other stuff I can do. K-1's going to come back. There's some good reports on that. There's some other promotions in the world that would love to have me fight"



thats like an employee telling his boss **** it fired me i can go find another job at another store, which is the wrong way to go about things he shoulda left it alone after the toe injury and th it but he showed he didt care much about strikeforce

Agree. O.K. you don't care about strikeforce thats fine, but it's owned by Zuffa, if he stuck around and won the GP he could have been moved into UFC and probably would have been 2 fights away from a title fight. If he won the GP, thats a big "IF"

Wow, so it looks like Dana White is determined to have another decade without a legitimate HW champion.

If he's actually banking on K-1. Heard The Voice on JRE talking about K-1 doing bad. They supposedly can't afford the top guys ( Overeem, Hari, Bonjansky) anymore, according Schiavello.



But then I heard something about Showtime being responsible for the GP taking place earlier than expected, something about it conflicting with a Boxing match i think.



Whatever the reason, I hope he signs the dirty deal with DW&Co;. Love to see him fight JDS, Kongo, Mir, Lesnar, list goes on...

its freaking crazy that you cut out an outstanding fighter like reem. in no other sport would this happen to an high level athlete... ufc buying up all the other promotions is the WORST thing that could have happend to the sport. an super interresting GP tournament is destroyd now because of the ufc:s involvment. ufc/zuffa/dana white should know that you cant put a fighting date earlier than expected, thats sooo Stupid. they should know what fighters going through. and then they get disrespectful when fighters dont obey and throw them away and think they could do whatever and threat fighters like slaves... ufc/zuffa/dana are to horney on money and dictatorship that core of the sport will soon be gone. if youre not friend with dana you will have no where to run... thats so stupid. to see the probably best heavyweight in the world be out of top competition is the worst thing right now, and ufc/dana should be ashamed of themselves for ruining the sport...

How can you let a fighter like the reem go, it's ridiculous.

It's dana and zuffa telling all the fighters once again, suck up with us or we will f... you over.

Zuffa is creating the new fedor themselves, reem will smash everyone outside strikeforce and the ufc and all the fans will be shouting for the reem vs strikeforce and ufc hw champ.

Zuffa: my hate is growing ! (oh yea f... dana, underpaying b....)

You guys are looking at this all wrong.



If a professional snowboarder hurt himself wake boarding right before the start of ski season, what do you think his snowboarding sponsors are gonna do?



Pay him for sitting on the sidelines? Why should Strikeforce pay him? It's not like this is his first time making his professional MMA/Title on hold because he is doing other stuff. Sorry.. No love for Overreem..

you guys are so stupid. this is zuffa and dana flexing their muscles. you all thought the sale of strikeforce was a good thing, but i could see this coming a mile away. first of all, if you followed overeems career like i have, you will know he is one of the most game fighters you will ever see. if you listen to him tallk, he is inteligent and honest and does not put other fighters down because he is a fighter. with that said, he asked for a month off to heal and it was not given to him. allistair loves to fight, so when he says he's hurt, that means he's hurt. you expect him to fight bigfoot with a broken rib and a hurt toe. all zuffa had to do was wait one month, but they have too much ego and they want to show the fighters that their organization is more powerful. scott coker really screwed up when he sold out. and for you people excited about the champion vs champion matchups, let me tell you how the first ones going to go. gsp is going to take nick down for five rounds, stay out of submissions, and hump his leg to take a boring decision. now did we have to take the best fighter from strikeforce to see that, or do we see it with anybody he fights. mma is a boring soap opera now that the billionaire casino owners run it. go ahead and run it into the ground dana. why don't we hire vince mcmahon to interview fighters and take a fake beating every now and then. thats where mma is heading. youll see.

Sad but true !