Alistair Overeem admits to weight loss, but shoots down talk of drop to light heavyweight

A picture of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight Alistair Overeem surfaced last week (see it) that featured a slimmer, trimmer "Demolition Man," one that had the mixed martial arts (MMA) community buzzing about a possible return to the light heavyweight division.

Not happening.

While Overeem admits he's dropped a couple of pounds -- in case he's called upon for a five-round fight -- he's not going to be giving up his muscle mass, because he likes to eat and more importantly, he likes to be big and strong.

From his conversation with Submission Radio:

"I'm eyeing the title, and title fights are five round fights, and even if you're not fighting for the title you're fighting main events. So you've gotta be ready for that five-rounder, and cardio is one of the key components. I've just been focusing on my job, on what is important, and you know strength of course is important, but even when you lose a couple of pounds I'm still just as strong. No, I like to eat. I like to be big, I like to be strong. And to be honest I can't even make 205. You know, that would be unhealthy, so no 205 for me anymore."

Does size really matter?

We'll find out against "Big" Ben Rothwell, who faces Overeem at the upcoming UFC Fight Night 50 event on FOX Sports 1, which is scheduled for Foxwoods Resort & Casino in Ledyard, Conn., on Sept. 5, 2014. The former Strikeforce titleholder returned to the win column at UFC 169 by outpointing Frank Mir, after suffering back-to-back losses to Antonio Silva and Travis Browne in 2013.

For more on that upcoming match up click here.