Alistair Overeem has issued a statement following his TKO loss to Alexander Volkov at UFC Vegas 18 on Saturday night.
Alistair Overeem made his plans for the future crystal clear: keep fighting until winning the UFC heavyweight championship and then retire from the sport. At UFC Vegas 18 last night, he suffered another setback when Alexander Volkov knocked him out in the second round.
At 40 years old, the future would naturally be called into question by the public, but Overeem does not seem to be contemplating retirement based on the Instagram statement he issued after the fact in which he praises his UFC Vegas 18 opponent.
“You’re a true warrior @volkov_alex Congrats on the win! Yesterday wasn’t my night. I could not recover from that punch in the first round after I broke my nose,” Overeem wrote.
“My highest priority right now is to heal up and spend some well-deserved time with the family. I’ll be back in the gym soon though.
“Thank you all for your support! I see the comments, you guys are the best.”
When you have been competing for as long as Alistair Overeem has, you are no stranger to adversity. And every time it seemed that he would begin to fall off the radar of heavyweight contenders, he would again string together some victories. With Overeem still expected to remain in the division’s top 10 after his loss to Volkov, if he is able to again bounce back and string together some wins, his goal of retiring as world champion may still be very attainable.
Who would you like to see Alistair Overeem fight next if/when he returns to the Octagon?