“In My Mind I Already Beat Him”- Alistair Overeem Reveals Who’s Next For Him

UFC Heavyweight Alistair Overeem spoke to the media at the post-fight press conference following his emphatic win at UFC Fight Night. “The Demolition Man” managed to ground his opponent in Augusto Sakai on multiple occasions and unloaded lethal ground and pound. What’s more, he’s now 4-1 in his last five outings and is knocking on the door of contention.

Augusto Sakai was hopeful to separate himself from the pack at heavyweight and extend his win UFC streak to 5. However, as the fight progressed into the championship rounds, he had no answer for the grounded assault that came his way. Additionally, Overeem will now face an opponent in the Top Five of the weight class and will be gunning for gold.

Alistair Overeem plays the field

Chiefly, Overeem was asked about his plans for the future as a media member listed off potential enticing match-ups via MMA Junkie. One such candidate was Derrick Lewis, who was rather unimpressed by his performance inside the cage. Lewis trolled Alistair on Twitter as the fight was playing out, and the Dutch kickboxer seemed interested to scrap.

“Derrick Lewis is just talking crap. My teammate Curtis is going to destroy him and I’d be happy to do after too after Curtis. Curtis first.”

With “The Black Beast” occupied, fellow top contender Jairzinho Rozenstruik sticks out as a possible opponent. Alistair Overeem dominated the Surinamese fighter when they first faced off. However, “Bigi boy” landed a massive strike to finish the fight.

“Rozenstruik, I destroyed that man, I schooled him. In my opinion, it was a very bad decision by the referee, waving it off with 0 seconds left. I have no problem running that back.

“In my mind, I already beat him. It’s only on paper that he kinda got it, and he knows it too. But no problem running that back. No preference.”

With around 23 years in the fight game and 47 professional MMA wins under his belt, “The Reem” is always a game contender. It is clear that he is looking to make a final push towards championship gold and is down to scrap anyone. Fight fans can expect the former multi-promotional champion to make a somewhat speedy return against a top-tier fighter.

Watch: UFC on ESPN+/Fight Night 176: Alistair Overeem post-fight interview