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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Alistair Overeem is officially on his way to the Jackson-Winkeljohn camp in Albuquerque, New Mexico, leaving the Blackzilians camp in Florida. However, Blackzilians founder and former UFC Champ Rashad Evans says it's not much of a loss, as Overeem wasn't ever fully a part of their team.
"It's not a big deal at all to be honest," Evans said in an interview with BloodyElbow.com. "Alistair was one of those guys who was on the team but never really committed to being part of it. He would run his own camps, bring in his own guys, train by himself, so him going somewhere else won't make much difference, it isn't a huge loss.
"Most people who come to the team buy into [the team ethos]. He was probably the only one who hasn’t wanted to do the team thing. The funny thing was, he would run his own camps and bring his own people in, then go out there and lose and blame everybody but himself. So now if he goes to Jackson's and doesn't learn to open up and step out of himself then he is going to get the same results."
Evans thinks Overeem's propensity for isolation and sticking to his own thing is going to continue to be detriment to his career.
"He just doesn't trust people," Evans said. "And at the end of the day as an athlete you have to be coachable. And being coachable is a humbling thing. You have to be like, 'let me put aside all my own thoughts and let me hear what is coming in.' Then afterwards you might weigh up what you want to take on and what you don't."
"But when you come into a situation with a mind set on only what you want to do, only think what you what you want to think, then you're not going to get any better. The thing with Alistair is he only does what he wants to do. He doesn't want to get out of his comfort zone. He doesn't want to do anything to get out of his comfort zone, even in training. He doesn't want to train too hard or push himself too hard because it's out of his comfort zone. But if you look at a fight, it is anything but comfortable. So when you're fighting tough guys and you’re not willing to go out of your comfort zone, you lose.
"I hope he learns to change that," Evans continued. "I hope he says to himself that he wants to be different, he wants to be a champion - 'F*** just wanting to compete, I want to be the best.' I don't think he really believes in himself. His mindset works against him and that is the biggest challenge that faces people who work with him. Getting him to change his mindset, getting him to say 'OK, let me be uncomfortable, let me suffer a little bit.' But I personally don't think it will happen for him, though I hope it does."
PENICK'S ANALYSIS: It's an interesting situation for Overeem in shifting camps. Since he successfully targeted Brock Lesnar's off-button in the midsection during his UFC debut, he's spent a year on the sidelines for a drug test failure, suffered two straight knockout losses, and picked up a less than thrilling win over Frank Mir. It's clear a change was needed, but Evans is right as well that Overeem will need to be open to changes in his game or he's not going to improve. Is Jackson's camp the place to instill that in him? Maybe, but it really is dependent on him at this stage.
[Alistair Overeem art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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