UFC
Alistair Overeem explains why he called out Brock Lesnar on Saturday after UFC 169
Feb 5, 2014 - 10:20:32 AM Alistair Overeem explains why he called out Brock Lesnar on Saturday after UFC 169

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Alistair Overeem received criticism on Saturday night after UFC 169 not only for his performance in a decision win over Frank Mir, but for an odd call out of a man he's already beaten, Brock Lesnar.

UFC President Dana White used both as a means to say it "was not a good night" for the heavyweight fighter, but he explained on Monday why the Lesnar fight would appeal to him in the first place. Essentially, because the talk has been that Lesnar feels he could have done better at 100%, Overeem wants to fight him at 100%.

"I believe I read somewhere that he wanted to come back, and that he believed he didn't win the fight because of his health conditions and that it would have been different if he was healthy," Overeem said in an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. "He was talking about maybe a comeback, and I thought he wanted to fight me because of his last fight, maybe a rematch. With Brock, you have to take it with a grain of salt."

"I care about the title, of course, but if [Lesnar]'s going to come back, why not? It would be a great fight. Brock healthy, because that's what the discussion is, if he's focused, he's healthy, we all remember what he did with Heath Herring, Randy Couture, he is the former UFC champ, aggressive, he's huge, he's strong. I think that would be a very good fight."

Penick's Analysis: This is sensible enough, and honestly, it could be among the bigger fights for him to take right now. If Lesnar feels the diverticulitis was a major contributing factor to his loss to Overeem (and given the body shots delivered in that fight, it might have been), then why wouldn't Overeem want to say, "OK, I'll beat you again"? Then again, making the call out himself in that setting didn't make sense on Saturday initially precisely because of how handily he beat Lesnar last time. Because while he makes a point regarding wanting to prove himself better than Lesnar regardless, it's odd to call out someone you've destroyed.

[Alistair Overeem art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]