Alistair Overeem Explains Why in His Mind, he Holds a Win Over Jairzinho Rozenstruik

The official record books show that Alistair Overeem had his two fight winning streak snapped by Jairzinho Rozenstruik earlier this month at UFC DC. But, the way the former Strikeforce, Dream and K-1 champ sees it, he’s actually won three straight.

Overeem on why for him, he beat Rozenstruik

Overeem faced the experienced kickboxer in the main event of the aforementioned, December 7th event, and he won the first four rounds. But, with just four seconds left, Rozenstruik put Overeem down with a couple of booming punches and the fight was stopped.

Well, Overeem was in Busan, South Korea this week for the UFC’s latest card. While talking with the media, the “Reem” put this spin on his recent loss (quotes via MMA Fighting):

“To me, it was a win, because we beat him every round,” Overeem said. “The referee should not have jumped in. I was not KO’d. I stand back up, it was two seconds left, three seconds left, one second left – to me it was a win. And I always fight for myself. Of course, you have fans, it’s great, of course the money is great, but I fight for me, and I see it as a win.

“I beat him very easy all around. Okay, I got hit in the last five seconds. My lip is damaged. Who cares?”

That’s one way to look at it, sure. It is true that Overeem negated Rozenstruik’s striking effectively throughout much of the fight, and once again, he demonstrated that he’s more than just a striker. Overeem scored a lot of points with his wrestling and top game.

But, as far as Overeem’s title shot ambitions, the defeat is a setback. A few months from now, if not already,  a lot of fans will only remember the fight’s final moments and the nasty, nasty, cut Overeem incurred  (warning: graphic). It sounds like he’s in pretty good spirits though, so that’s good.

And speaking of the cut

As you can see by watching the video below, you can barely tell now that just a few weeks ago, Overeem had a horrific gash on his face. While talking about that, the Dutch star said this:

“To me, I’m almost pretty again,” Overeem said. “Actually, I am pretty again compared to last week. Because what was it, 10 days ago? And I think it’s looking great.”

It will be interesting to see what comes next for the 39-year-old fighter. Overeem also reported that he’s hoping to fight again in March or April.