Alistair Overeem Disputes The G.O.A.T. Status Of Fedor Emelianenko

Alistair Overeem is preparing for his rubber match against former UFC Heavyweight Champion Fabricio Werdum at UFC 213.

Fedor Emelianenko is widely considered to be the G.O.A.T. in MMA, but that is a status that Overeem disputes.

“What can you say about it?” Overeem said to Fight Hub TV. “I think Fedor had a great run in 2002-2005 and after that — people talk about 10 years undefeated and blah, blah, blah, but after 2005, who did he fight? He fought cans. He declined to fight me on two occasions, in 2009 and 2010. The other thing is that he never tested himself in the UFC. That’s something that bothers me. He should have done that. He should have went to the UFC and went to that mix. There’s always gonna be that little thing over his career.”

Overeem and Fedor did compete in the same promotion twice, those promotions were PRIDE and Strikeforce.

The Ducth heavyweight also hinted that Fedor may want to consider retiring altogether.

“I’m a fan of [Fedor’s]. I like him as a person, but I’m having talks with my staff and my crew and my coaches about when is a good time to hang up the gloves,” Overeem said. “When does your performance start to diminish your legacy and your career? All legit questions I think and I think it goes for him too. He should have those conversations. When you’re looking good in your performances, then you don’t need to have that talk. But when you’re looking bad in your performances, then I think you should need to have that talk. When you’re racking up some consecutive losses then you should start having those talks with yourself, with your foundation, with the people around you.”

UFC 213 takes place on Saturday, July 8 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.