Alistair Overeem

Alistair Overeem: biography

People recognize Alistair Overeem even if they do not know a lot of information about martial arts and can just say: “Ah, he is somehow connected with well-known McGregor and Nurmagomedov, isn’t he?”. We do not mean the random channels changing or watching of the fights in the ring accidentally. The black fighter played brilliantly in the hot and incredibly popular music video for the song “Sexy and I Know It,” which had about 600 million views in 2018.

Childhood and youth

It is not surprising that, due to his mixed Jamaican and Dutch ancestry, at first the Python was born in 1976, and four years later, on May 17, the Demolition Man appeared. The names are not the result of a play debt, a lost argument or a great sense of humor of the parents, these are the stage names in professional sports.

After the birth of the youngest son, the parents lived together for six years. Mother Claire is considered to be a descendant of King William III of the Netherlands. She decided to move with her sons from Great Britain to her homeland after the divorce. The paternal great-grandfather deserves respect too because he was a slave who became a free man and bought a large tract of land on which he started a village.

At first, the boy preferred basketball and athletics, as well as Japanese martial art of judo. But life with its strict laws dictated other terms, and the brothers went to the MMA gym to learn to defend themselves. Unlike Valentijn, Alistair Cees (his full name) did not show much interest in the sport, but everything changed overnight thanks to Bas Rutten and Joop Kasteel. At the age of 19, the guy first entered the professional arena and defeated the opponent by submission.

By the way, if one can see his childhood photos, then he will never guess that this child with delicate facial features will later ruthlessly and deftly turn someone else’s face into a complete "mess," inducing fear and horror. However, he did not have a calm temper in ordinary life.

“I was 15 years old and hanging out in bars, and I was always getting into fights. And this one guy broke a bottle in my face. I had to have 20 stitches through my cheek,” he said in an interview.

There is also an obscure fact about the attack on an unknown woman in a Las Vegas casino, which ended in a fine.

Martial arts

At first Overeem Jr. worked at Rings in MMA, then he transferred to Pride, knocking out an opponent in his debut bout in 45 seconds. A further biography in Pride had victories and defeats solely by famous fighters. For example, he could not avenge Russian Sergei Kharitonov.

He won the heavyweight championship at Strikeforce in November 2007, but the title defense was postponed for three years due to his injury in a fight with the safeguards. The media actively covered the news about the conflict that occurred in a nightclub. Defending his brother (according to the reports, the security staff took the athlete to the street and hit him in the face with a flashlight), Alistair suffered a cut on his hand, which had an infection that led to severe edema.

Doctors even considered the option of amputation, but everything was well, except two canceled subsequent fights and a semifinal bout against Antônio Silva, who defeated Fedor Emelianenko.

In 2011, The Demolition Man won the UFC fight against Brock Lesnar and promised Junior dos Santos a similar bout. But the plans were disturbed because of a failed doping test. Alistair lost the first battle after the recovery, which caused gossip about the lack of opportunities to fight without steroids.

It was followed by a run of bad luck. The athlete could not participate in the next fight at the Ultimate Fighting Championship; he was replaced by Mark Hunt. Then he also had a series of losses and stated that he would give up the career if the athlete had one more failure. However, everything was well.

Having defeated Ewerton Teixeira, Badr Hari, and Peter Aerts, he could participate in the K-1 World Grand Prix Final and become the only fighter to win the title in two organizations at the same time. Although the bout against Stipe Miocic ended in Alistair’s loss, it brought an additional prize. The results of the record holder were not stable. In 2017 he held the leading position, and in 2018 there was a dramatic shift because he was knocked out by Francis Ngannou and defeated by Curtis Blaydes.

Personal life

If Overeem’s career does not raise any additional questions, then there is discordant information about his personal life on the Internet. It is not clear whether he is married or just engaged to his girlfriend, the beautiful TV host of the Nouryon channel and the model, Zelina Bexander. Some publications even have mentioned 2010 as the exact year of engagement.

The girl is from Gothenburg and nine years younger than her lover. However, it does not affect their happy life together, and the couple raises two daughters: Storm (2006) from the previous relationship of the fighter and Yazz-ley Rey (2016).

Attentive spectators can see the Demolition Man’s girlfriend at the end of the fights because she often screams loud at the end of the competition and is the first to congratulate him, rushing the ring and folding him in her arms.

It seems that the legend of kickboxing and martial arts is the personification of Mironov’s hero who has a terrible face, but a kind heart. If one looks at his pages on social networks, he can assure himself of it because the posted pictures with children show father’s care and tenderness.

Alistair Overeem now

The fighter is an active user of Instagram and Twitter, where he delights subscribers with published photos of workouts, traveling, leisure activities, visiting a hairdresser, as well as a reaction to events in the world, such as football and music. By the way, he supported the transfer of a friend, Cristiano Ronaldo, from Real Madrid to Juventus and expressed condolences to the fans and family of dearly departed DJ Avicii.

The celebrity also shows his figure there. It is quite impressive (his height is 193 cm, the weight is 120 kg) with or without clothing. As for income, his salary was $ 850 thousand only for the June bout in 2018 and $ 10 thousand for communication with the press.

The official website provides information about current news, documentaries and available products of his own label. He expressed the attitude towards the matter of his life in the comment:

“I love working and improving. I’m an athlete, I’m a fighter, I’m a champion – this is what I do. I think there’s a couple different ways you can look at the results. However, winning is not just a matter of work; it’s a combination of factors.”

Awards and achievements

• 2000 – 2H2H Light Heavyweight Championship (One time)
• 2005 – Pride Final Conflict
• 2007 – Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship (One time)
• 2009, 2010 – K-1 World Grand Prix Final
• 2010 – DREAM Interim Heavyweight Championship (One time)
• 2010, 2011 – International Fighter of the Year
• 2010 – All-Violence Second Team
• 2015 – All-Violence Third Team
• 2016 – Fight of the Night (One time) against Stipe Miocic
• 2016 – Performance of the Night (One time) against Andrei Arlovski

Photo