'It became me': Alistair Overeem talks PEDs, CTE, fighter pay and life in a post-fighting world

Alistair Overeem smiles, and as he does, you can hear the air being released in the hyperbaric chamber he is lying in. The former MMA heavyweight star is wearing a nasal cannula that loops over his ears and the pale blue piece of equipment sends oxygen into the 45-year-old’s nostrils. “So the hyperbaric chamber, there’s more particles here and then more oxygen here," he says, "so when you’re in this chamber and this nostril [attachment] is pushing oxygen, and then you breathe it in, your body has the ability to kind of hold more oxygen, which has super healing benefits.

"I mean, obviously I’m not fighting anymore, but there’s sure going to be some fighters who are using this for performance benefits, but I’m just doing it for health. ” Overeem has become all about health and longevity. He dragged his near-240-pound frame around a half-marathon recently, but is now about looking after himself rather than trying to inflict damage on others.

The English-born fighter, who went to live with his mother and older brother in Holland when he was 6, now resides in Dubai, and says the structure and discipline of being a top athlete has given him qualities he can still use even though he has left fighting behind. “I think the sport structured that energy into discipline, into routines, into methods, and you’re doing it for so long, so it kind becomes you, right? " he says.

"It became me — and then the fight stopped all of a sudden. For me, the goal was always fighting and it was always kind of the great financial independence. It kind of transferred now into longevity and well-being — feel good, live longer, be happy, live healthier.