Alistair Overeem Participating in K-1 World Grand Prix, Olympic Drug Testing is M-1's Latest Excuse to Push Along Barnett vs. Fedor at Dynamite!!

When it rains it pours, especially when it comes to news concerning FEG recently. Hot on the heels of discussing how FEG has no plans for a DREAM show in October there have been lots of murmurs as to who Alistair Overeem's next opponent will be. M-1 Global recently called out Alistair Overeem on behalf of Fedor Emelianenko, causing a big stir in the MMA community. The long-standing rumor for Overeem was that his next fight was against Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva, while the man himself commented numerous times that he was looking to rematch Fabricio Werdum, the man who dethroned Fedor Emelianenko this summer and shocked the world. He made it pretty clear; it was Werdum or it was K-1. Well, it looks like he made his decision today, and that decision is to participate in the K-1 World Grand Prix. Alistair does some MMAmath to justify his decision;

Number two is clearly Werdum because of his win over Fedor and Antonio Silva. Fedor losing means he's number 3 and Antonio Silva, who came back from a loss against Werdum by defeating Arlovski is clearly the number 4. So in that case, Fedor should fight Antonio Silva and the winner of that fight should fight against the winner of a bout between myself and Werdum. It's just that simple -- it's not rocket science.

The thing is, Overeem is completely correct. Strikeforce always seems to just be grasping at whatever fights they can book and throw logic out the window. Josh Gross on his Twitter today commented on the negotiations for the possible fight;

Overeem-Fedor talk will be interesting. M-1 is asking for Olympic style drug testing. Overeem's camp says no, athletic comm. testing enough.

This wouldn't be the first time that M-1 has raised concerns over Alistair Overeem and the possible substances moving through his system. We talked to Alistair Overeem's manager, Bas Boon today to see where he stands on this, and of course, he had an answer. In regards to GG and Overeem "ducking" the Olympic Style drug testing, "all bullsh*t" was Boon's response. They will submit to drug tests like every other fighter on the card, which means they also are against certain fighters having certain treatment.

According to Boon, M-1 Global has no intentions of putting together an Alistair Overeem vs. Fedor Emelianenko bout according to their timeline of "late November or early December." M-1 Global is currently putting together a fight against Josh Barnett at Dynamite!! 2010 at the end of December, according to Boon, and this seems like a desperation move by M-1 Global management now that their negotiation tactics of the past (stalling, demanding more money, threatening lawsuits, etc.) have been exposed and cannot hold up. So it seems that calling out Overeem for a fight in Strikeforce was a negotiation tactic to help grease the wheels on the possible Barnett fight.

Boon also points out that he made it clear that Alistair was available to fight in the US in April through late September, and finds it funny that Fedor's management wouldn't accept a fight with him until after those dates have passed. Peculiar indeed. A point that needs to be made is that M-1 has demands for Overeem, but what about Barnett who is currently without a license to fight in the US due to PED issues?