Looking from the outside in at Alistair Overeem, his UFC career is threatening to go off the rails before it even starts. Overeem, however, said he's been in far lower places in the 12 years he's been a mixed martial artist.
"This is way better," he told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) on Friday.
It's perhaps a surprising statement given a series of recent headlines that suggest things can't get much worse. He's had a messy split with his longtime management company; an ailing mother who's required Overeem to uproot himself from Las Vegas to Amersfort, Holland, in mid-camp; and a run-in with one of the most prominent athletic commissions in the country that renewed suspicions he's a chemically enhanced athlete.
None of these things engenders confidence in his ability to focus on a fight that's two weeks away against Brock Lesnar, which headlines the UFC 141 pa-per-view event on Dec. 30 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Overeem, however, is hardened to the mini-dramas that are amplified by his celebrity status. Or so he would have us believe. He points to a period after the midpoint of the previous decade when things fell apart. It's a time he's come to call his "dark period."
For almost two years, he said trouble was his shadow. He had a daughter who kept him from getting more than 30 minutes of sleep at a time during fight camps. His mother was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. There was a bad break-up with his longtime girlfriend, an MMA magazine that ate up his time and went nowhere, and a physique that no longer held up to the rigors of weight-cutting. He went 4-6 and lost almost every fight of note.
In a tailspin, Overeem changed his camp, ditched the magazine, got a new girlfriend and moved up to heavyweight. Things turned around. He started to win, and then win again and again. By the end of 2010, he held no fewer than three major titles in MMA and kickboxing, something never before done by an MMA fighter.
Now, he's on the cusp of a title shot against current UFC heavyweight champ Junior Dos Santos if he can get past the former champ Lesnar.
There's little argument that his commission troubles couldn't have come at a worse time, and they did him no favors as far as his public image. While he has never before run afoul of commissions, he said he is better now at turning negative scrutiny into positive motivation.
"I'm a better fighter today," he said. "I have a very positive and strong team. So that's why I'm still very optimistic and why I want to fight."
The newest member of his team is a victim of his meteoric rise. Earlier this month, UFC veteran Todd Duffee flew to Amersfort to join Overeem's camp – he still trains at the gym once associated with his former management company, Golden Glory, but only works with a few former teammates from that time – in the final weeks of training for Lesnar. Overeem took the DREAM interim heavyweight title when he knocked out Duffee in 19 seconds this past New Year's Eve.
"Todd Duffee is a very strong guy, a very motivated guy," Overeem said. "I met him briefly backstage at DREAM, and there definitely was a connection there. I think he has a lot of potential. We're going to see in the future where we can cooperate more. I'm motivated by positive people, and that's a thing that Todd brings."
Between training sessions, Overeem tends to his mother, who he said is healthy but nervous about a possible cancer relapse.
Most observers break down the No. 1 contender bout as a simple question of whether Overeem (35-11 MMA, 0-0 UFC) can hit Lesnar (5-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) before getting taken down. Lesnar returns to the octagon for the first time in 14 months after a second bout of the intestinal disorder diverticulitis prompted doctors to remove a 12-inch section of his colon. Between Lesnar's layoff and Overeem's distractions, oddsmakers have chosen Overeem as the favorite.
"The UFC title is missing to finish the work," he said. "I believe I'm the one to beat [Lesnar], and I believe I'm the one to beat Dos Santos after this fight."
Just getting to Dec. 30 has been an adventure in and of itself, and it won't be the last time he's faced with complications prior to a fight.
But hopefully, it's the last time people doubt his ability to surmount them.
"I would say this is a fairly good camp despite the distractions," Overeem said.
For more on UFC 141, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site
Source:http://mmajunkie.com/news/26585/despite-distractions-ufc-141s-overeem-says-latest-camp-beats-previous-dark-times.mma
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