Alistair Overeem on meeting Stipe Miocic for the belt

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Alistair Overeem on facing Stipe Miocic for the belt.  MMA Legend and K1 Grand Prix champion Alistair Overeem is currently on a 4  win streak. He speaks to being next on the list for the title and elaborates on what fans can expect in a showdown between him and Stipe Miocic. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

Transcript

00:00I fought in my home country of Holland. I headlined the first UFC event there ever.

00:14And I won it by flying colors. Second round knockout over Andrei Orlovsky, a former UFC

00:20champ. My sixth former UFC champion that I've defeated. So I think now the time is there.

00:28I think, you know, the other fighter that comes remotely near is Cain Velasquez. He's

00:34ranked number two. But if I'm honest, his last win dates back from 2013. So that's three

00:39years ago. So I think I have the best numbers to fight for the title.

00:46I think I will knock him out in two or three rounds. I do have to give him props. He's

00:51a tough guy, but he's going to go down.

00:54Well, he's got great hands. He's got his wrestling. He's tough. He's a guy who puts

01:02a lot of pressure. He comes forward. Yeah, it's not going to be enough against me.

01:13The funny thing is, is that I beat Junior Dos Santos basically without being hit. Took

01:18me two rounds to dispose of him. And this is a guy who can take a shot, has excellent

01:24cardio, excellent hands. When I fought him, he was ranked number two. I beat him without

01:30getting hit. And then you look at the Stipe and JDS fight, because they fought as well.

01:35That went over five rounds, and JDS won that on a close decision. So overall, when I look

01:41at it, I have done better than both. Because I beat JDS, flying colors, and JDS beats Stipe.

01:52I don't really worry about him. I'm more focused on what I need to do, and that's train, keep

01:58my body healthy, make sure I peak at the right time at the right moment, and win that belt.

02:09I joined Greg Jackson and Mike Winklejohn and Al Pacookie. I think that has had a big

02:17impact on my career, big influence. But besides them, I also attract some other coaches. And

02:24I just think all together, we have a great chemistry. I think Al Pacookie is a very good

02:28place to be focused, to stay focused. I mean, there's not much to do there. It's desert.

02:34It's like, yeah, it's no Dubai at all. It's no London. It's no Amsterdam. It's no Miami

02:39Beach. I also have a place in Miami Beach. I miss the beach, by the way. But yeah, it's

02:45a great place to stay focused with like-minded martial artists. And fighting from there,

02:52we racked up these four wins in a row. And I think, I believe that with the current form,

02:58I'm ready to become champion.

03:04Fedor, of course. I've known Fedor personally. I trained with him a couple times, 2004, 2003.

03:12Gentleman. Gentleman. Very strategic. Nice. Yeah, we had a language barrier because his

03:20English was not perfect, but the respect was there. He was a gentleman. And he demolishes

03:26his opponents. I mean, we all know who Fedor is.

03:29Okay, who else? I was amused by Brock Lesnar. I liked his fights. I mean, he came from the

03:37pro wrestling, but he came in and he was beating people. And within no time, he became

03:43champion. And I think that deserves some respect because later his career kind of went down

03:48and I was the last nail in his coffin, basically. But yeah, but he made the crossover. That

03:58deserves respect. And he became champion. He was winning fights. He was giving fighters

04:02like Randy Couture, Heath Haring, a very hard time. Frank Lear, he beat him. Just beat

04:08him up. Beat him to pulp. So that, but you know, for him, he was not a martial artist,

04:15but he was definitely a force to be reckoned with. And then I fought him. Beautiful fight.

04:21We finished him quick. Another fighter who I look up to in MMA, it's actually not MMA,

04:28but it's in kickboxing, K-1, Badr Hari. I fought him twice. We're one-on-one. Later,

04:36I had the honor of training with him. Very genius fighter. Very intellectual too. And

04:45after I trained with him, I appreciated his technical side a lot more. He's just a genius.

04:52He's doing things without thinking about it, without having learned it. So then you're

04:58a genius in my opinion. And the thing with him was too, he could explain what he was

05:03doing. He could translate it because, yeah. So that's why these are the fighters that

05:09growing up, actually Badr was a little bit at a later stage after I fought him already

05:13twice. I fought him in 2008 and 2009. And then in 2013, we started training together.

05:20So there was a gap in between. But yeah, some fighters that I respect for their ability or otherwise.

05:30Well, Stoypan, enjoy the belt while you have it because I'm coming to get it.

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