Octobereem: Alistair Overeem v. Glaube Feitosa Fight Video

After making an unsuccessful K-1 debut in 2001, Alistair Overeem focused his energies squarely on the world of Mixed Martial Arts.  At the time of the Errol Parris fight, Overeem had a modest 5-3 MMA record, and had yet to make any sort of name for himself.  When he finally returned to K-1 in 2004, he was on the rise.  Since the loss to Parris, Overeem had gone on a 12-1 run in MMA, with his only loss coming to Chuck Liddell.  He had made his Pride debut, and greatly increased his profile.  As a result, Overeem's 2nd ever K-1 fight was definitely a bigger event.

On May 30, 2004, Overeem stepped into a K-1 ring for the second time, and his first in Japan.  His opponent was Glaube Feitosa, a decorated kyokushin fighter who had faced a brutally tough string of fighters since making his K-1 debut including Peter Aerts, Mike Bernardo, Mirko Cro Cop, and Andy Hug.  The Overeem v. Feitosa fight was the semi main event (under Remy Bonjasky v. Francisco Filho) of an event called Kyokushin vs K-1 2004 All Out Battle.  Overeem, despite sporting a 0-1 K-1 record, represented the K-1 fighting style against kyokushin stylist Feitosa.

One of the criticisms leveled at Overeem is that he has a suspect chin, and those who support this idea often use this fight as evidence.  It's true that Overeem does get dropped here, and that it's not a brutal KO shot that takes him down.  But watching this fight, it's also clear that Overeem is overmatched.  In particular, his defense is problematic as he leaves a lot of openings and responds poorly to being hit.  More than a chin problem, it's this lack of strong defensive skills that Feitosa exploits to take the Demolition Man down.

With a 0-2 K-1 record at this point and a thriving MMA career, it would be another 4 1/2 years before The Reem tried his hand at K-1 again.  And when he did, things would turn out to be very different.