Alistair Overeem on Andrei Arlovski: Same gym, different times, no friendship

LONDON – UFC heavyweight Alistair Overeem is no stranger to fighting teammates, which is how he characterizes his upcoming headliner against Andrei Arlovski.

The two train at the same gym, the famed Jackson-Wink MMA in Albuquerque, N.M. But that’s where the relationship largely ends.

“I don’t have a problem fighting Andrei, who’s not my friend – he’s my teammate,” Overeem today told MMAjunkie at a Q&A session in support of their headliner at UFC Fight Night 87, which takes place May 8 at Ahoy Rotterdam in Rotterdam, Netherlands. UFC officials today formally announced the bout.

The two respect each other, Overeem clarified, but they’re not hanging out on weekends. Asked how they would share the same space, Overeem (40-14 MMA, 5-3 UFC) said he’d take evenings while Arlovski (25-11 MMA, 14-5 UFC) takes mornings.

On his championship run as a kickboxer, Overeem shared the ring with a pair of fighters from his former camp, Golden Glory. He had no trouble laying into Tyrone Spong or Ghokan Saki in the 2010 K-1 Grand Prix and defeated both on the way to winning the promotion’s tournament.

Now full-time in MMA, Overeem is enjoying a late-career resurgence in the UFC, where he’s won his past three bouts. A meeting with Arlovski, whose four-fight surge was stopped this past month by Stipe Miocic, could get him closer to a title fight.

In fact, Overeem predicts a win will give him No. 1 contender status.

“I expect when I beat Andrei, I’ll fight for the title next,” he said.

Check out the video to get Overeem’s plans for training at the same gym and watch him get flustered by questions about his latest UFC contract, which comes after he tested the market as a free agent.

And for more on UFC Fight Night 87, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.