A recent photograph of former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem has ignited discussions within the combat sports community, leaving fans both awestruck and worried about his health and future in the sport.
In a recent interview, Overeem shed light on his decision to retire and his dietary choices:
“I’m here to kind of bring this information about meat is not good food. It negatively affects you. Yes it tastes delicious even now if I would… I could still eat meat but I just choose not to.”
Overeem further explained the change in his eating habits, stating, “Um, my diet, my appetite changed, so I usually ate steak at eight o’clock in the morning, and I just felt like steak at eight o’clock in the morning. That was like a standard thing. So, and then I was like, ‘Yeah, I don’t—I’m full. I don’t want to eat this anymore.’ So the next day, I went for less. It was just one more steak I ate, and then the day after that, I didn’t want to eat it anymore.”
According to Overeem, his nutritionist, Julian, provided an explanation for this shift in taste preferences. Overeem shared, “When I spoke to Julian, I asked him, ‘Um, what’s happening? My, my, my—I don’t want to eat my steak anymore, and I want to eat my steak because I want to build muscles.’ And then he said, ‘Listen, you had parasites in your body. We gave you the supplements. You started detoxing your body, creating an alkaline environment.”
“These supplements are just simple seaweed that everybody could actually take, and they create an alkaline environment which these parasites do not like. Actually, they get hurt, and they will die off. And once you get rid of them, your tastes change because it’s not me who needs to eat meat; it’s the parasites that influence me. They work through me.'”
During the same interview he outlined that he’s decided to stop competing in MMA and kickboxing however this may not have been as formal as it was believed.
While Overeem announced his retirement from mixed martial arts, his management has clarified that he has not retired yet. It has been reported that Overeem plans to compete in one or two more matches before ultimately hanging up his gloves.
The 43-year-old Dutch native has had an illustrious career in mixed martial arts, having held titles in PRIDE and Strikeforce. Although he never captured a UFC belt, Overeem’s impressive resume includes victories over notable opponents such as Brock Lesnar, Fabricio Werdum, Frank Mir, and Junior dos Santos.