Alistair Overeem offers Rico Verhoeven two-fight deal: MMA and boxing
CAIRO – Alistair Overeem would come out of retirement to fight Rico Verhoeven – twice. Former GLORY Kickboxing champion Verhoeven (1-0) laces up the gloves against undisputed boxing heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk (24-0) Saturday in front of the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Verhoeven initially pondered a move to MMA, and even revealed an offer from the UFC to fight Derrick Lewis.
However, the 37-year-old opted to take on Usyk instead, and Overeem thinks he made the right decision. "I do not think Rico is going to go into MMA," Overeem told MMA Junkie. "I just don't see that happening.
I think that gap is just too big. Also, considering that Rico is 37, so in the heydays of his career, and it's difficult for fighters to make the jump into a whole new sport. Wrestling is a whole new sport.
"It's difficult. It's submissions, it's positions, it's angles, it's strength and conditioning, and to learn it, you have to be a little bit young. I think boxing makes very good sense, it's huge, it's made a resurgence so, in my opinion, stick to boxing, don't go to MMA.
" Overeem predicts Verhoeven will get finished by Usyk in the later rounds. When asked where Verhoeven goes from there, Overeem offered to fight him in both MMA and boxing. The pair were scheduled to fight at GLORY: Collision 3 in October 2021, but Overeem withdrew due to injury.