Alistair Overeem hasn't fought for Strikeforce since winning its heavyweight championship two years ago. But after winning an easy fight over the weekend, he'll fight again after just a week off, stepping into the cage to take on James "The Collosus" Thompson at Dream 12 on Sunday.
Dream has not yet announced the fight, but a source with knowledge of the situation tells FanHouse that it will take place on the card, which is noteworthy as the first time the Japanese Dream promotion will use a cage instead of a ring.
This past Saturday, Overeem needed less than a minute and a half to finish off Tony Sylvester with a standing guillotine in the first round, and he'll enter the cage with Thompson a heavy favorite to finish that fight quickly as well. Overeem is one of the best strikers in MMA, and Thompson has been beaten by knockout or TKO five times in the last three years.
Thompson is well known to fans as the guy who lost to Kimbo Slice on CBS in 2008, in what is still the most-watched MMA fight in American history. Overeem is, in addition to being Strikeforce's heavyweight champion, one of the world's top heavyweight kickboxers. After he fights Thompson, his next fight will be in the K-1 ring on Dec. 5, when he faces Ewerton Teixeira in the first round of the K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 Final.
Alistair Overeem vs. James Thompson at Dream.12
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10/19/2009 1:15 PM ET By Michael David Smith
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- Michael David Smith
- Michael David Smith is FanHouse's Lead Blogger
Read More: DREAM Strikeforce FanHouse Exclusive Alistair+Overeem, AlistairOvereem, Dream+12, Dream12, James+Thompson, JamesThompson
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Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ugh. What a waste of time. This is the best "match up" they could come up with? Overeem will knock him out within 1 minute.
Smashing bikes with a sledge hammer and fighting outmatched opponents isn't how he's going to earn a fight with Fedor.
Yuck. James thompson is a poopoo platter after getting the brett rogers ko combo special.
"ur ufc poster boy kimbo" ... Speak for yourself! Dana used Kimbo to make some money on TUF. It's not like he put him on a major PPV card.
Go spread your UFC hate someplace else, because I already understand MMA as a whole (I loved the Pride days). I hope SF has a great card, but let's be honest can anyone else put out 10-15 good cards a year?
BTW - My local bar shows every UFC event for free. Good times.
10-15 good cards a year?? I haven't seen a good ufc all year.
And no kimbo on ppv?? Ahhaha lol, u sure. A multi-fight contract and u don't think he's planning any kimbo ppv's?? Are you serious?? Omg you're warped!!
Aren't you the same eric who said 'what hood is b-hop from?? Some eastside hood??' So far what I know about you, u probably think boys from the hood was real. Hey dreamboy, take a trip to n. Philly. Stand outside any one of the thousands of mini market or fast food chinese food dumps in n. Philly for 1 hour and you'll get the real experience of what a hood is. If you can make it for an hour. I doubt you could make it 15 minutes without 3-5 kids offering your life for your wallet.
You are such a sheep, you'd get eatin alive. 10-15 good cards a year. You live in a fantasy. Don't act like you know mma. Go to ufc.com forums. There's hundreds of sheep like you there.
Don't know what you're talking about (b-hop, hood, etc.) ... that must be someone else that you were pointlessly fighting with.
Personally, I enjoy all MMA ... including the UFC. If you don't like it, don't watch.
Just exactly who did you people expect him to fight?
The guy just fought a couple days ago, has to compete in K-1 on Dec.5th and fight on the Dynamite show for Dream on NYE.
All things considered Thompson who is contracted to Strikeforce isn't a bad opponent.Certainly better then Tony Sylvester.
Overeem will blow through Thompson, but do you think he should be in an all out war with Josh Barnett or Aleksander Emelianenko considering his full schedule coming up?
No.
Indeed its simply a tune up fight and a quick purse. No problem with it. But thompson is still doodoo
Thompson isn't even a "B Level" fighter ... when is the last time you saw Liddell, Couture, GSP, Anderson, or even Brock fight someone on the level of Thompson? Even Herring (one of Brock's opponents) would crush Thompson.
Anyway you cut it this is a joke of a fight.
Yeah we do because we don't want to see him fight no talent hacks that he is obviously superior in talent when compared.
Maybe he shouldn't fight so much and should instead fight big fights that make sense .. or you know actually defend his SF title.
How you can support or defend this type of opponent is beyond me. I'd rather him not fight at all this Saturday @Dream than to see him fight a hack like Thompson. meh.
I would rather him be injury free for the K-1 tournament at the end of the year than risk breaking his hand on Thompsons face.
You act like you have a vested interest in this guy or something. What are you his manager? Stop being so sensitive.
I still think Ewerton Texiera is going to beat Overeem in their K-1 fight and in my opinion Texiera is the dark horse to win the whole event. Texiera, Saki & Zimmerman are the new guard in K-1 while guys like Lebanner, Bonjaski and Ertz are the old guard. I would say that even though Overeem is kind of a K-1 noob you could call him part of that new breed as well. Same thing with Badr Hari whom Overeem viciously KTFO.
Someone of Overeems talent has no business fighting stiffs like Sylvester or Thompson. He should only fight the best otherwise his manager is making him look like a chump.
Eric, eric...
Thompson is so bad that's why he almost beat ur ufc poster boy kimbo. And he gets a multi fight contract after dana says he has to 'get thru' (win) the show and loses his 1st fight.
Save ur money homeboy. Don't be a sheep. Ur getting ripped off. Overeem will eventually be defending his sf title on free tv against a serious opponent. And you'll still be paying $45 for brock vs carwin and tito vs who the f cares.
As bad an opponent as thompson is, nothings worse than being charged $45 for ufc's trick matchups. Think outside the box homey. Ufc=rip off.
It's already in the current reply chain. Got my verbiage mixed up but it just shows that your reading comprehension skills are non existent. Sucks to be you ...
"Same thing with Badr Hari whom Overeem viciously KTFO."
Try again noob.
Well since all of those guys you mentioned "Eric" fight in the UFC now they wouldn't be competing in K-1 matches at all or fighting so frequently so It's a rather asinine comparison.
If you want to compare every single fight or fighter or event or promotion to the UFC maybe you should just stick to watching the UFC.
The point is that there are plenty of fights like that for Overeem outside of the UFC. He could fight a myriad of opponents in Strikeforce (Werdum, Big Foot Silva) or even guys you mentioned like Alexsander Emelianenko or Josh Barnett.
It's one of three things: Overeem is ducking top level competition, he needs a pay day because he is in debt or his manager is a complete tool who doesn't understand anything about the sport or how to create a legacy.
The bottom like is Overeem isn't a hack and he should be fighting them. Period. The last meaningful MMA fight he had was what ... against Cro Cop? The one that was a no contest because of repeated low blows by Overeem. Then he gets his ass handed to him by Bonjaski in K-1 after giving Remy that fake oscar for his fight with Badr Hari ... I think Overeem is starting to lose his relevance in the heavyweight MMA landscape because he isn't fighting anyone thats a challenge.
Dude you're crazy. Overeem had his ass handed to him by Bonjasky? Really? You might want to watch that fight again. Remy did everything he could to keep his distance in that fight and avoid Overeem's power.
I also like how you mention Bonjasky faking an injury to Hari, but fail to mention Hari indeed getting his ass handed to him by Alistair.
And you clearly don't know what you're talking about in regards to Overeem's manager Bas Boon because he's one of the best managers in Combat Sports.
Stick to commenting on things you know about.
Milt - Am I impressed that Overeem will compete in the K-1 GP Final ... Yes! On the other hand his MMA fights are a joke.
BTW - I'm a fan of all MMA, not just the UFC. No thanks to Brighthouse Networks.
Yeah man I mentioned Overeem beating that Badr Hari ass on another thread. Try again.
Bonjaski did beat that ass ... when was the last time you saw Remy drop anyone with one of those flailing arm punches? He dropped big ole allistair who just wanted to stay in the clinch and throw Remy to the mat like it was an MMA fight.
Try again noob
johnnynumber 5 You mentioned it in another thread? WTF does that have to do with what I'm talking about right here in this topic? Nothing.
Next you'll be saying you mentioned that on a different website.
Wow GTFO!
milty,
you are out of your mind with your statement,"All things considered Thompson who is contracted to Strikeforce isn't a bad opponent."
first off, this is not a sf event.
and secondly, yes you are right, he is not a bad opponent, he is a horrible opponent.... this is embarassing for a so-called hw champ to be fight back to back scrubs. he dis-honors the belt, and furthermore shows he doesn't give a rats a$$ about the integrity or dignity of being a champion.
Dude you do know that SF and Dream have a partnership don't you?
Doesn't matter if it's not a SF event he's fighting a guy who's competing in the same heavyweight division he's the champ in albeit in a non title fight so yeah it kinda isn't nearly in the same ballpark as his fight at Ultimate Glory.
And I've got news for you since you think you're an expert you cannot fight top tier opponents on a regular basis if you're fighting 5 times in a 12 week period. Can't do it with that amount of activity.
Dishonors the belt? Are you completely gone or what?
You're another TUF noob who should stick to watching and hopefully commenting on only UFC events.