Overeem technically not released, still SF champ, talking with UFC
Despite exercising its right to terminate the final fight on Alistair Overeem’s contract, Forza LLC, the Zuffa LLC owned Strikeforce parent…
Despite exercising its right to terminate the final fight on Alistair Overeem’s contract, Forza LLC, the Zuffa LLC owned Strikeforce parent company, has not released the Strikeforce heavyweight champion.
Overeem’s manager Bas Boon, clarified to ESPN.com that the 31-year-old fighter is currently “in a negotiation period with Zuffa.” Sources familiar with the arrangement between Overeem and Strikeforce explained the fighter is bound to exclusive and separate 120-day negotiation and matching periods with the Las Vegas-based promoter.
Because Overeem turned down a Sept. 10 bout against Antonio Silva, Forza executed clauses in the contract that allowed them to remove a fight from his deal. The bout was Overeem’s last on a contract.
Had Overeem won, he was free to negotiate a new contract while possessing considerable leverage. Sources say a handshake agreement between Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker and Golden Glory covered a finals appearance had Overeem advanced, but nothing was put down on paper.
A source with knowledge of Overeem’s contract said the fighter was not stripped of his Strikeforce belt and remains tied to the promotion via the so-called “champions clause,” that allows MMA promoters to maintain contractual rights to titleholders after their deals expire.
In an interview with NBC Sport’s Ariel Helwani, UFC President Dana White responded to Boon’s comments.
“One thing I wouldn’t do is go out there and lie to all you guys. If the deal was something other than what it was, I wouldn’t go out publicly and say, ‘These guys wouldn’t do this.’ You know what I mean?
“I’m not trying to fight with Bas Boon. I don’t dislike Bas Boon or any of the Golden Glory guys. There’s never been some kind of situation where there was some kind of fight between us and Golden Glory. I have no resentment whatsoever towards Golden Glory. I’ve seen Bas Boon a million times. He’s a nice guy.
“We just had different business opinions on how things should be done. He knows and I know and everybody over there knows…even the fighters. I don’t give a s— what they tweet, what they take pictures of or what they say. They f—— know exactly how it worked and we would not do it that way.
:Now if Bas Boon is saying that this is the way that we can do it, then we can absolutely positively make a deal and we can get this thing rolling again.”
“I was in Ireland and I bumped into Alistair and Semmy Schilt there. I walked over. Talked to them. Said ‘hi’ to them. Took pictures with them and everything else. I got no problem with those guys. No problems with them at all.
:”To be in a position where Alistair could come over and fight in the UFC? Why would I not do it? I chased Fedor around…forever, when I told you guys publicly that I didn’t think he was the best. Pound-for-pound or otherwise. I was willing to prove it. Let’s get him over here. Let’s offer him a deal. You think I’m gonna chase Alistair Overeem and don’t want him fighting here? You think I want him to go somewhere else? No.
“Everything I told you guys, last week, about the way things went down was one hundred percent absolutely true. If they have changed their mind and, believe me, it took an awful long time to come out with a press release and say, ‘Oh ya know, this was the truth.’
“You guys asked me the question that night. Everybody was blowing me up. I was on the phone telling everybody: ‘Here’s the deal. This is what’s happening and here’s why we can’t do a deal with them.’ It didn’t take me two weeks to come out with a press release.
“The facts are the facts. It’s the way it went down. I said it publicly, which they’re probably not used to, either. The Japanese don’t come out and talk s— like I do. I tell you guys the truth and the way that it is. It’s the way it went down. If they’ve changed their mind, we can absolutely make a deal and get their guys in the UFC.”