Reports surfaced online late Tuesday evening that Alistair Overeem vs. Ricco Rodriguez was all but signed for the DREAM.15 card on July 10. However, a source close to Overeem told MMA Fighting that the fight isn't close to being official and that there is a "90%" chance that Overeem won't be fighting on the card altogether.
In addition, Overeem's trainer, Martijn de Jong, told The Fight Show's Mauro Ranallo Wednesday afternoon that Overeem is "definitely not" fighting Rodriguez at DREAM.15.
The trainer added that Overeem is currently in Sweden, and his camp will officially decide whether he will fight on the card Friday.
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On the flip side, DREAM officials and Rodriguez's camp have informed MMA Fighting that contracts have been sent out and that both camps have verbally agreed to the fight.
There was talk at one time of having Overeem fight Andrei Arlovski, Ikuhisa Minowa or Tim Sylvia at DREAM.15, but those plans all fell through for different reasons. It appears as though matchmaking is one of the major hurdles affecting the Strikeforce heavyweight champion's participation on the card.
Of course, this is Japan, and as we all know by now, things can change on a dime when it comes to DREAM matchmaking.
Stay tuned.
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