Despite an early TKO loss to Ben Rothwell at UFC Fight Night Jacare vs. Mousasi in September, Alistair Overeem still believes he can beat Rothwell 9 out of 10 times.
After the loss, many began calling Overeem the biggest bust in UFC history, calling for ‘The Reem’ to be cut, however the UFC decided to give him another shot, against Stefan Struve at UFC on FOX 13: Dos Santos vs. Miocic.
Overeem discussed his decision to fight less than 3 months after his loss to Rothwell, as well as why he believes he can still beat Rothwell 9 out of 10 times, with Submission radio.
“For me I’d rather prefer to fight soon because I’m still in the rhythm of things, and yeah in the last fight I didn’t have any damage. I was not knocked out, and it was like, even though I did lose – and I still believe (that) 9 out of 10 times I beat Ben Rothwell – Even though I did lose the fight, I didn’t have any damage, so what is the reason to not fight?”
“Well he’s a tall guy. He’s definitely going to be using his reach, he’s got his submission game. Overall I think I’m better. I think I’m better in stand up, I think I’ve got better wrestling and I think I’ve got better ground. But you know, that ‘X-factor’ remains, and yeah you know you need to have the luck of the a little bit on your side. I do believe that you can force the luck with a lot of hard work.”
“So yeah we just need to pick ourselves up and get back at it, and that’s exactly what we’ve been doing. So I’m actually looking forward to getting in there again and closing the year with a win.”