Strikeforce has released its heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, according to HDNet sources.
The news was broken on the channel’s “Inside MMA” show Friday night and comes apparently after Overeem declined a semi-final fight in the heavyweight Grand Prix scheduled for Sept. 10, saying he needed more time to recover from injuries.
Overeem, who had one fight left on his Strikeforce contract, was scheduled to face Antonio Silva after beating Fabricio Werdum in the quarter-final opening bout in June. He will be replaced in the tournament by undefeated heavyweight Daniel Cormier.
According to the report, Overeem, who is on an 11-fight unbeaten streak, is also dealing with more serious injuries than originally thought, including a broken toe and rib, in addition to some elbow problems.
Overeem is set to fight in October for another promotion, United Glory, in Russia with an opponent yet to be announced.
The 31-year-old Dutch fighter, who has also had a successful kickboxing career with K-1, explained his side in an email to MMAfighting.com.
“Strikeforce promised me a date in the fall (October/November), I acted on it and chose to go on holiday and start my training in August. Zuffa/Showtime then decided to do it in September and then the ball was in my court, and I had to decline because I know it’s too short of time to be prepared 100 percent Instead of postponing the event they decided that the show must go on and use one of the alternates.”
The current Dream interim heavyweight champion also said in an interview on the media outlet’s show “The MMA Hour” that he felt disrespected by the organizations and that there are “other promotions” and fights he can take elsewhere.
“K-1’s going to come back. There’s some good reports on that. There’s some other promotions in the world that would love to have me fight. So for me, the respect thing is definitely a factor and it’s definitely important.”
