Alistair Overeem’s quest to come back with an impressive victory following his brutal knockout loss to Francis Ngannou at UFC 218 last December was halted by Curtis Blaydes, who knocked “The Reem” out at UFC 225 last Saturday night (June 9, 2018) in Chicago, Illinois.
In the third round, Blaydes swarmed Overeem with a barrage of strikes which lead to a takedown. Once there, it was all she wrote as Blaydes pounded on the downed big man with six vicious elbows, busting up his face and forcing a referee stoppage.
But don’t count Overeem out just yet, as he took to Instagram to reveal he won’t be hanging up his gloves anytime soon despite his latest setback.
“The greatest test of courage is to bear defeat without losing heart. I would like to thank you all for supporting me through thick and thin. Huge thanks to my team and everyone involved! I will be back, I always come back. Congrats to @razorblaydes265 on his big win and he has a great future in this sport. #ufc #ufc225 #willbeback
Overeem (38) has suffered back-to-back knockout losses before and bounced back stronger than ever. In 2013, he was finished by Antonio Silva and Travis Browne in consecutive bouts in the span of six months. He then went on to win five on his next six, which was good enough to earn him a shot at the UFC Heavyweight title, though he was eventually knocked out by division champion Stipe Miocic (see it).
Still, Alistair is determined to keep chugging along despite maybe losing a step or two. But it won’t get any easier as the 265-pound weight class is starting to get some young blood into the mix such as Blaydes (27) and Tai Tuivasa (25), who scored a big win over Andrei Arlovski at UFC 225 (recap).
Anyone think Overeem has enough left in the tank for one last push?
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