UFC
UFC on Fox 13's Alistair Overeem thankful for quick turnaround after loss to Ben Rothwell
Oct 15, 2014 - 3:40:16 PM UFC on Fox 13's Alistair Overeem thankful for quick turnaround after loss to Ben Rothwell

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Alistair Overeem is making a quick turnaround after his loss to Ben Rothwell last month, as he'll take on Stefan Struve at UFC on Fox 13. The loss to Rothwell was a shock for a number of reasons, and Overeem especially felt like it wasn't indicative of where he's at right now.

To that end, he thinks it's a good thing that he's getting right back into the cage.

"Sometimes you fall down, but you put in the work and you come back," Overeem said this week in an interview at UFC.com. "I'm 34 years old. If I would be injured, yes, maybe, but I still love what I do – I love working and improving. I'm an athlete, I'm a fighter, I'm a champion – this is what I do... Everything went so well [in camp] – I felt great. Of course you have some minor hiccups, but that's in every fight camp. I felt great. I improved a lot, changed my diet a little bit. I felt great. I had the sparring partners – everything was there. I was in great shape. I know what I'm doing with my sparring partners – Jon Jones, Andrei Arlovski, Cody East – they're tough guys and I know how I perform against these gentlemen, so I know what I'm capable of."

"I think there's a couple different ways you can look at the results,” Overeem continued. "These results are not good, I totally agree. Would I like to have other results? Of course I would like to have other results – I'm a winner. I like winning. I enjoy winning and I put in the work to win. However, winning is not just a matter of work; it's a combination of factors: it's your sparring partners, your coaches, your diet – it's the whole package, even your personal life. In that sense, it's a continuous building of a puzzle and I think that the puzzle is very good right now.”

"... [Fighting again right away] works best because everything is still fresh, so I'm thankful that I'm in there again soon. It was also a weird loss – I got clipped, boom and it's over. There's no damage or anything really that goes on, so for me it's a good chance to redeem myself."

Penick's Analysis: This might be Overeem's last chance for redemption, because a fourth loss in six UFC fights will surely spell the end of his run in the organization. Getting stopped in three of four has been bad enough, and a loss to Struve is likely to be the end of things for him in the Octagon. That said, if the loss to Rothwell was just a matter of getting caught, and he can turn things around against Struve, he'll give himself some new live in the heavyweight field. It's a division so lacking in legitimately elite talent at this stage that any type of run can bring a fighter close to the title conversation, so if he turns things around and goes on a run, he might be able to salvage what has been a highly disappointing UFC run thus far.

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