Alistair Overeem Wants UFC Return ASAP to Prove He’s Not Ducking, but Waiting on Rib Injury

Alistair Overeem caught a lot of flack from his boss, UFC president Dana White, recently for turning down a fight with Junior dos Santos, a fighter that Overeem has history with and once wanted to fight more than anyone else.

Overeem recently explained, however, that he turned down the fight because of a rib injury that he still doesn’t know the status of.

Overeem told UFC Tonight that he suffered the injury about four weeks prior to his most recent fight, which was a three-round unanimous decision victory over former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir at UFC 169 earlier this month.

Currently on vacation, Overeem also informed UFC Tonight that he intends to go to Holland in the next few days to get his ribs looked at by doctors and see about physical therapy.

He would like to return to the Octagon as soon as possible, especially since there is so much chatter from people, including White, saying that he is ducking dos Santos. Overeem is hesitant to commit to any fight, however, until his ribs are somewhere in the area of being 90-percent healthy.