Former UFC title challenger Alistair Overeem has said that he used to be an admirer of pro wrestling back in the 90s, but isn’t a fan of the current generation of professional wrestlers.
Overeem was released by the UFC in March after his second round TKO loss to Alexander Volkov at UFC Vegas 18. He is now signed with GLORY and will be making his return to kickboxing against heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven on October 23rd.
Overeem On Pro Wrestling
Speaking to MMA Fighting, Overeem slammed the current pro wrestling scene using a homophobic slur.
“The thing is with that whole wrestling thing, I watched it when I was 8, 9, 10 years old,” Overeem said. “Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, huge fan of those guys. Honky Tonk Man. Great, funny. Andre The Giant. I stopped watching after that, so I’m not watching since [1992, 1993, 1994].
“And just recently, I started looking again on YouTube, and oh my God, this stuff is lame. It’s just lame what these guys are doing. It’s fake. It’s lame. It’s stupid. It’s gay. It doesn’t make any sense.”
CM Punk’s UFC Career
Brock Lesnar, who Overeem finished in the first round of their heavyweight fight in 2011, and CM Punk are the two most notable pro wrestlers to crossover to MMA. While ‘The Beast’ had quite a lot of success in the Octagon and won the heavyweight title by beating Randy Couture at UFC 91 in 2008, Punk fought and lost twice, although his second defeat was ruled a no-contest after his opponent tested positive for marijuana.
Overeem wonders why nobody warned Punk about the dangers of MMA.
“Listen, why did nobody warn CM Punk what he was getting into?” Overeem asked. “Of course, he can’t fight in the UFC. You should have been more honest. You should have warned that guy of what he was getting himself into.
“That man got mentally destroyed in the Octagon. And if you look at his WWE stuff… I never watched his WWE stuff, but if you look at it, you can already predict it beforehand — this man is going to have a bad, bad experience in the UFC. He’s going to win, and he’s going to get somebody tougher, or he’s going to lose, and he’s not going to lose once — it’s always two or three times, and he could get hurt. That’s the even worse thing. He could have gotten really hurt.”
What do you make of Alistair Overeem’s comments?
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