Alistair Overeem is still going strong. The Dutch MMA star has an extraordinary record of 47 wins and 14 losses. His most recent victory was against Walt Harris in a match that most of the world wanted him to lose. But Overeem proved that it takes the best to beat him.

‘The Demolition Man’ wants one last run at the heavyweight title. It’s not impossible because it only takes a string of three wins or so against ranked names to get in that title picture. Furthermore, with the Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones logjam there’s definitely time to become a contender again.

Overeem proved that his veteran wiles are enough to get past the best prospects in the division. He just defeated Brazil’s Augusto Sakai after coming back from a beatdown. Check out the highlights below.

Rough

Sakai dominated this fight until he didn’t. The first round was busy but the Brazilian clearly threw and landed more strikes including several punches and a knee. Then in round two, he picked up the pace and used his elbows effectively. It was relatively close but his output was more than Overeem’s.

The Brazilian fighter started well in round three with busy striking. However, Overeem took him down around the midpoint and landed some heavy ground-and-pound. Sakai did upkick Overeem in the face but was bleeding by the end of the stanza.

Championship Rounds

Even though Sakai slowed down, he was still dominant at the start of the fourth round. But Overeem’s veteran mindset came into play. He took the Brazilian down and battered him until the bell. Sakai was lucky to get away with it because referee Herb Dean was right on top of the action.

Finally, at the start of round five, Overeem got another takedown and this time did manage to finish Sakai. The Brazilian was not impressed with the stoppage, but looking back he can’t have any complaints. Dean gave him time to recover but he wasn’t doing anything meaningful.

Revenge

Now Overeem wants revenge against Jairzinho Rosenstruik. Riding a two-fight win streak, Overeem believes he can beat the last man to defeat him. When they fought in 2019, ‘The Reem’ totally dominated the fight, winning every round. But then, in the final seconds of the match, Rosenstruik landed one shot flush to Overeem’s lip.

His lip exploded and the referee waved off the fight. We shouldn’t really say if, but in another world, Overeem would be riding a five-fight win streak. Suddenly that’s contendership material. He desperately wants to get that win back and it would put him within touching distance of a final title shot. Overeem knows this and is ready to give it one last go. You get the feeling that his next defeat will be when he hangs up his gloves.

Entertaining

This was an entertaining card with a lot of finishes. In the co-main event, Ovince Saint Preux got a walk-off KO against Alonzo Menifield. Before that, Michel Pereira demonstrated a fight IQ for the first time in the UFC while still being his absolutely insane self.

There may not be a more entertaining fighter in the UFC on his day. He kissed his palm and slapped his hapless Russian foe, while doing all kinds of other crazy stuff. We love it.

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