Overeem and Manager dismiss Fedor's call out,say's M-1 trying to set up Barnett

Alistair Overeem has laughed off Fedor Emelianenko’s recent comments about wanting to fight him towards the end of this year, and Overeem’s management say that the call-out was likely nothing more than a tool to aid negotiations currently underway for Fedor to fight in Japan in December.

Emelianenko, speaking through the Russian site of his management M-1 Global, said earlier this week that he would be interested in a fight with Overeem in “November or December” now that a rematch with Fabricio Werdum will not happen until 2011.

Overeem told MMA Fighting that he would be fighting in the K-1 tournament taking place in October “for the Final 16 in Korea. If I win the fight, I will advance to the Final 8 in Japan. That fight will be in December.”

The Dutchman holds the Strikeforce heavyweight belt but says “after Fedor lost to Werdum, I had no intention of fighting somebody other than Werdum…. I like K-1 very much and there are not many opportunities to stay fighting in K-1, so I want to fight if I still can. One of my goals is to be K-1 champion and this is my chance.”

He also rubbished Emelianenko’s call-out saying he found the timing of it “a little strange”. In a separate interview, his manager Bas Boon told the website Headkick Legend that Fedor’s comment was no more than a negotiation tactic on his management’s part.

The report says that “according to Boon, M-1 Global has no intentions of putting together an Alistair Overeem vs. Fedor Emelianenko bout according to their timeline of "late November or early December."

“M-1 Global is currently putting together a fight against Josh Barnett at Dynamite!! 2010 at the end of December, according to Boon, and this seems like a desperation move by M-1 Global management… So it seems that calling out Overeem for a fight in Strikeforce was a negotiation tactic to help grease the wheels on the possible Barnett fight.”

Overeem receptive to Emelianenlo fight and drug testing, but conditions apply

Alistair Overeem thinks it's a little fishy that Fedor Emelianenko is suddenly clamoring for a fight with him.

Emelianenko's reps at M-1 Global made headlines this week by announcing the Russian heavyweight wants a year-end meeting Overeem – and not Fabricio Werdum, who submitted him Emelianenko back in June.

But Overeem, Strikeforce's current heavyweight champion, contends M-1 is playing "tricks" with the public to cut in line for a crack at his belt.

"They already declined to fight me," Overeem today told MMAjunkie.com. "They know I'm not going to accept (a fight with Emelianenko)."

After a months-long, who-fights-who saga in Strikeforce's heavyweight division, Overeem (33-11 MMA, 2-0 SF) said it was always his plan to fight the winner of that June Emelianenko vs. Werdum fight.

The Dutch fighter said he was ready to meet Werdum (14-4 MMA, 3-0 SF) in the fall but decided three weeks ago to book a slot in K-1's 2010 Grand Prix – which runs from October to December – when it became clear that the Brazilian wouldn't be healed from an elbow injury until early 2011.

While Overeem is not opposed to a highly anticipated meeting with Emelianenko (31-2 MMA, 1-1 SF), he finds the timing of M-1's announcement dubious. He said the matchup has long been delayed by their demands in putting the fight together.

Those stipulations, he said, nixed a meeting at "Strikeforce St. Loouis: Heavy Artillery" back in May.

"(They said), 'Maybe Alistair needs extra drug testing,'" Overeem said. "'Maybe Alistair needs to fight other opponents first, and maybe, he deserves to fight Fedor.' So these guys, they declined to fight me."

Overeem instead fought Brett Rogers at "Heavy Artillery" and defended his belt for the first time in nearly three years with a decisive first-round TKO. Emelianenko was submitted at "Strikeforce and M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Werdum" the following month in perhaps one of the decade's biggest upsets.

"Now, all of a sudden, they've dropped their terms," Overeem said. "Now, they do want to fight me. It's all tricks, and I don't feel pressured by it at all."

The champion also accused M-1 of meddling with Emelianenko's reputation.

"Never in my life have I encountered a managing agency capable of such manipulation (and) tricks," he said. "And in the end, it doesn't work. You can see Fedor's image has been tarnished. It's not working. It's bad karma.

"I mean, Fedor is a nice guy. I know Fedor personally from the PRIDE days, and we even worked out a couple of times together. He came down to Holland. He was a nice, humble guy. Nothing bad to be said about him. But the management – ugh. They're just hard people to deal with. Ask (UFC president) Dana White. Ask (Strikeforce CEO) Scott Coker. They don't like to deal with the Russians."

Overeem said the Olympic-style drug testing rumored to be a sticking point in previous negotiations rings hollow for M-1.

"M-1 shows in Russia don't do any drug testing on ... any of their fighters," he said. "So why do they want that for me when they're not doing it on their own fighters? I don't understand it at all, and I think it's just another trick of [Fedor's] management."

Surprisingly, though, Overeem is open to Olympic-style testing. He just wants testing to be done across the board.

"I've [undergone] the athletic-commission drug testing every time I've fought there, and I've always come through the test negative," he said. "I'm the champion now, so I get tested every time I fight. I'm doing my part as an MMA fighter, [like] every MMA fighter, and I'm going to be tested every time because I'm the champion. So the argument of me having to (get) extra tests – why am I any different? Who put me in that position?

"If they're going to implement it for all MMA fighters, then I'll be happy to submit myself. I'm going to do what everybody does because I'm not any different."

The ideal situation, he said, is to have Emelianenko fight Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva in December and then have the winner of that bout face the winner of his bout with Werdum. If Werdum is still sidelined by early 2011, it may be a different story.

"It depends on how things go," Overeem said. "For now, I'm in the tournament. I want to fight Fedor. I'm not negative about that fight, but I do believe he needs to win.

"Because when I fight Fedor, I'm sure it's going to be a title fight, and I already fought Brett (Rogers when) he came off a loss. I don't want to keep doing that. Werdum was a legitimate winner from the fight (with Emelianenko). He's the No. 2 of Strikeforce. So I believe I should fight Werdum. If he's still injured, then I'll fight Fedor because he's still a worthy opponent, and I've challenged him for a year."