It appears that
Alistair
Overeem is stepping away from combat sports for good.
The mixed martial arts and kickboxing star announced his retirement
during a recent interview with Lovin Dubai, where he also discussed
his diet and the drastic changes to his physique that came to light
when a
photo of him alongside Rizin CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara surfaced
on social media.
“This actually ties into what I want to do, because I actually just
decided to stop fighting,” Overeem said (transcription via
tested positive for an unknown banned substance. Overeem was
also suspended for one year.
Prior to signing with Glory, Overeem compiled a 12-8 mark with the
UFC from 2011 to 2021. He came up short in a bid for heavyweight
gold at UFC 203, where he suffered a first-round knockout loss to
Stipe
Miocic in September 2016. During his Octagon tenure he earned
notable victories over the likes of
Sergei
Pavlovich,
Fabricio
Werdum,
Mark Hunt,
Andrei
Arlovski,
Junior dos
Santos,
Roy Nelson,
Frank
Mir and
Brock
Lesnar.
The 43-year-old Dutchman compiled a 47-19 record during an MMA
career that began in 1999. He captured titles in Strikeforce and
Dream and also competed for Pride Fighting Championships. Notable
wins outside the UFC included
Vitor
Belfort,
Igor
Vovchanchyn,
Sergei
Kharitonov and
Todd Duffee,
among others. Overeem was also a K-1 kickboxing champion and the
first athlete to hold titles in MMA and K-1 at the same time.