Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Combat Athletes

4. Alistair Overeem

Overeem is an interesting inclusion, especially at No. 4. He certainly achieved tremendous success in both MMA and kickboxing, and I had him fifth on my own top 10, but where then is Mirko Filipovic, whose achievements in both are at least comparable? Overeem cracked Sherdog's list of the greatest heavyweights ever at No. 10, though in his absolute prime, he could have beaten most of the fighters ahead of him. He could never maintain consistency and lost many times, but his list of wins is utterly incredible: Igor Vovchanchyn (yes, technically at light heavyweight), Sergei Kharitonov, Mark Hunt twice, Fabricio Werdum twice (very controversially in the rubber match), Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir, Stefan Struve, Roy Nelson, Junior dos Santos, Andrei Arlovski and even Sergey Pavlovich as recently as late 2018.

Amusingly, the same criticism applies to Overeem's kickboxing career. His record stands at 10 wins, 4 losses, and 1 no contest, featuring enormous wins and some sobering losses. Early in his forays in kickboxing, he was knocked out by Errol Parris in 2001 and Glaube Feitosa in 2004. However, he sent shockwaves through the kickboxing world when he defeated Badr Hari on New Year's Eve 2009, probably the second-best heavyweight kickboxer at the time behind Semmy Schilt. Hari would get his revenge, knocking out Overeem in 2009. Overeem also lost a decision to another kickboxing legend in 2009 in the form of Remy Bonjasky. However, Overeem wouldn't lose after the rematch loss to Hari, including winning the 2010 K-1 Grand Prix. Besides the win over Hari, Overeem defeated legends Tyrone Spong, Gohkan Saki by knockout, and Peter Aerts twice, with the second being in the 2010 K-1 Grand Prix finals via 67 second knockout. Granted, Aerts was past his prime, being 39 and 40 years old for those fights, but he was still very dangerous and one of the best in the world. Overeem came back to kickboxing in late 2022 for a rubber match against Badr Hari. In a highly entertaining battle, Overeem knocked down Hari twice in the final round to initially win by a point on the cards. However, this was overturned after Overeem tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Mercurial though he is, Overeem's greatness in both MMA and kickboxing can't be questioned, especially at his very best.

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