‘It’s Been Up and Down’- Former UFC Heavyweight Alistair Overeem Walks Back Disparaging Comments About Pro Wrestling Ahead of Upcoming Bout Against Braun Strowman
Heavyweight MMA legend Alistair Overeem spoke to Ariel Helwani on a recent edition of the MMA Hour and he walked back comments he made last year. Overeem went on record saying that he wasn’t a fan of professional wrestling as he saw it to be ‘lame’ and he mentioned famed pro wrestler and two-time UFC fighter CM Punk when sharing his disdain for the sport.
Overeem talked about how he was once into the sport while growing up but he grew out of it. After leaving the sport of pro wrestling behind 20 years ago, Alistair Overeem has seemingly decided to venture into the world of pro wrestling.
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“It’s lame, it’s stupid. It’s not even a sport. It’s just lame. It’s bad acting. It’s just lame. Sorry for all the fans of WWE, but I’m just being honest. I’m just giving my opinion. Free country, right?
“I think it’s lame, and because I hadn’t seen it for 20 years. I never watched Brock fight. I never watched CM Punk fight. I knew they were from WWE.”
Alistair Overeem is set to face former WWE superstar Braun Strowman in England on July 9 as the main event for a card. This is a major pivot from his earlier statements from 2021 that disparaged the pro wrestling business in a major way.
“Life is interesting, let me put it that way. Cause on the one hand you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, you’re talking smack and then you’re doing it yourself.’ Not too big a fan of it lately, but again, in my defense, I was a huge fan in the 80s when I was 8 or 9 or 10, 11, 12 [years old]. So it’s been up and down, and now it’s up again.
“I was always, just to remind you, not too flattering about kickboxing guys. I’m kickboxing now. I was kickboxing 10 years ago. I was kickboxing 25 years ago, so that’s a little bit of the up and down thing, right?” [h/t mmafighting.com]
MMA fans are excited to see Alistair Overeem in a new avatar while he’s also turning back the clock with his return to the kickboxing scene.
