Smart Move Dropping Overeem?

It’s not every day that you see a legitimate top ten fighter simply get released from his contract all of a sudden. It’s even less often that said fighter is the current champion of his former promotion in one of the marquee divisions of the sport. So today is obviously not a very common day, as we have seen Alistair Overeem get released from his Strikeforce contract not long after it was announced that he would be withdrawn from the organization’s heavyweight grand prix.

The release ends what has been a rather underwhelming stint for one of the top heavyweights in the world in what is now clearly the second biggest organization in the sport. In five years with the organization, Overeem has fought just four times, defeating Vitor Belfort, Paul Buentello, Brett Rogers and most recently, Fabricio Werdum. Much of that inactivity was due to Strikeforce’s friendly policy toward fighter sharing and Overeem’s apparent preference for fighting in Japan and the Netherlands. Of course, in fairness to Overeem, only in the last couple of years has Strikeforce assembled a respectable heavyweight division.

It’s frustrating for fans of the sport who may feel that Overeem is one of the better heavyweights today, but would like to see more quantifiable proof that this is indeed the case. Overeem hasn’t lost in four years, but aside from Rogers and Werdum, the fighters he’s been defeating haven’t exactly been top notch. If (and it’s still an “if” until we hear more details) Overeem’s banishment from Strikeforce also means the UFC won’t have interest in him, there won’t be a lot of interesting fights for Overeem in the future, which is a loss for all of us, whether we are Overeem fans or not. After all, what’s MMA about if not finding out who is the best at any given time?

This whole fiasco may end up reminding us of a simple fact that is often forgotten: we will never have our dreams of having all of the top fighters in the world in one place to fight one another truly come to fruition. Even now that Zuffa holds the keys to the top two organizations on the planet, there are notable stragglers in most weight classes that rank in the top ten in the world: Eddie Alvarez, Joe Warren, and most recently Nate Marquardt and now Overeem, to list a few. When those guys go on a tear against admittedly-lesser competition outside of the Zuffa umbrella, how are we to know where they really fit in among their contemporaries, whom are fighting against fellow elite competitors each time out?

For Strikeforce, this is certainly part of a very troubling trend in what once was a very attractive heavyweight division. Not too long ago there was a lot of excitement and even debate about whether Strikeforce’s division was better than the UFC’s. Strikeforce had signed Fedor, Werdum was back on the rise, Brett Rogers looked like a great prospect, and Overeem was climbing the ladder with a long string of dominant victories. Now Fedor is hoping a win over a true middleweight will keep him from dropping a third straight fight, Werdum just lost an ugly bout against the now-departed Overeem and Rogers has been dropped after a succession of losses. A division that once looked very deep now depends on Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and the unpredictable Josh Barnett to lead the way.

Of course, that’s not such a big deal now that Zuffa is running the show, is it? It’s not as if Strikeforce is competing tooth and nail with the UFC; they’re more like brothers that have a friendly rivalry but a common affection. What’s more, you have to wonder if Zuffa’s willingness to let Overeem walk is part of the knowledge that Strikeforce itself is on borrowed time, and therefore the future of Strikeforce’s division is not exactly vitally important.

If Zuffa as a whole is really done with Overeem, though, the real losers are certainly the fans, as usual.

E-Mail Jon Hartley

Tags: Alistair Overeem, Antonio Silva, Brett Rogers, Fabricio Werdum, Fedor Emelianenko, Josh Barnett, Strikeforce, UFC