Alistair Overeem Denied Turning Down Fights Against Derrick Lewis, Calls The Bout An “Easy Paycheck”

Derrick Lewis last competed in the main event of UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Oleinik, defeating Aleksei Oleinik by second round knockout.

A victorious Lewis, before the bout against Oleinik, named some fighters he’d like to battle in the future and one of them was Alistair Overeem, whom Lewis accused of turning down a chance for them to fight at least three times now.

“I already fought just about everybody in the Top 10,” Lewis said during a media scrum (via Jesse Holland of MMA Mania). “The only guys I haven’t fought are Overeem and [Blaydes]. I’ve been asking to fight Curtis and Overeem. Overeem turned me down like three times in this past month before Oleinik popped up.”

Overeem, who faces Augusto Sakai on September 5 in the main event of UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Sakai, took to Twitter to deny turning down fights with Lewis, whom Overeem called an “easy paycheck.”

Why would I turn you down ? (Easy paycheck –) https://t.co/SSqOl02n0z

— Alistair Overeem (@Alistairovereem) August 7, 2020

If Overeem manages to get past Sakai next month, it could finally lead to a bout against the higher ranked Lewis.