Overeem to Fedor: Leave this M-1 circus and start fighting the best

Derek Bolender (MMAmania.com): Rogers is coming off a loss to Fedor Emelianenko in November 2009. Have you seen tape of the fight? If so, what did you think of his performance against Fedor?

Alistair Overeem: I think Fedor is not the Fedor he was in PRIDE like so many of that generation of fighters. Fedor is the best and has beaten the best, but he is not unbeatable. Vadim (Finkelstein) recently made comments about me being a “steroid bully,” and that’s why they do not want to fight me? But then fighters who got caught three times with steroids in the past they want to fight.

Or when Vadim does a co-promotion on New Years Eve, the unranked Hong Man Choi can be picked as an opponent for Fedor, who is 20 cm taller than me and 40 kg heavier. Rogers showed some strength, but gassed in my eyes and gave Fedor room to come back because Fedor could smell that!

Derek Bolender (MMAmania.com): Do you feel Brett Rogers has done enough to deserve a shot at your Strikeforce heavyweight title?

Alistair Overeem: I am not really busy with that. I wanted to fight Fedor but my management knows the management of Fedor very well. There is too much risk business-wise to make that fight happen for M-1. If they lose they cannot play their co-promotion card anymore and M-1 will be over. Scott (Coker) will terminate all bindings with M-1 and continue with me and Golden Glory as he knows we are reasonable and we have been around for 10+ years. I think he got gray hairs from them already (laughs).

Derek Bolender (MMAmania.com): If you could pass along a message to Fedor directly, what would you say to him regarding this situation?

Alistair Overeem: Fedor, you are a great fighter and like many other great Russian fighters in history you do your talking in a ring or cage. Leave this M-1 circus and start fighting the best. It’s okay to lose sometimes but hiding makes you look like a coward, which Fedor is not, Vadim is!

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