Alistair Overeem knows that mixed martial arts is always built on the principle of ‘what have you done for me lately?’.
In his case after suffering back-to-back losses by knockout, Overeem has bounced back with a pair of first round TKO’s against Sergei Pavlovich and Aleksei Oleinik.
Because Overeem has competed for the UFC heavyweight title in the past, his name is always going to be mentioned in that race so long as he’s staying competitiove with the best fighters in the world.
So it should be no surprise that two wins in a row have once again landed Overeem in that conversation but as much as he hopes to become champion one day, he’s pumping the brakes on those kinds of questions right now.
While he has a targeted timeline for his return, Overeem isn’t concerned about the title shot for now anyways.
“I’m aiming for September. Fighting in September and then again later in the year. But after three wins we will start talking about the title,” Overeem said at the post fight press conference from Saint Petersburg, Russia on Saturday. “Not yet, it’s too soon.”
The back-to-back knockouts have maintained Overeem’s ranking in the division where he’s currently No. 7 in the world according to the UFC and there are a string of potential rematches with fighters currently ahead of him.
While the only fight he’s not interested in taking would be a second fight against current teammate Curtis Blaydes, anybody else is fair game according to Overeem but he would like the chance to face the fighter he was supposed to meet in Russia this weekend.
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“There’s not choice in the UFC. I mean you choose who you fight? That’s not how the UFC works. The UFC will match you with whoever is interesting and that’s based on rankings,” Overeem explained.
“To me, Alexander Volkov is still ranked somewhere there, we were supposed to fight tonight. I’m still looking for that fight. Let’s do that first and then we’ll figure out who comes after.”
Volkov was forced out of the main event for the card just over two weeks ago and it appears Overeem would like the chance to settle that bit of business for a third win in a row and then he’ll address his hunt for the title again.
