QUOTABLES: Alistair Overeem says FEG still hasn't paid him for K-1 Grand Prix win; focusing on challenges in the UFC

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"[FEG] didn't pay me [for winning the 2010 K-1 Grand Prix]. It's a lot of money, I can tell you that... We're on the verge of starting up legal action, but Japan is a hard environment to move. You have the language barrier, you have the culture barrier. Are we expecting something from it? It's hard to say. I actually think it's going to be really hard. FEG has a lot of outstanding liabilities, a lot of unpaid bills, so maybe mine is just going to be put underneath the stack of the other bills. They have a lot of debt.

There are a couple of guys who are interesting fights for me and those guys happen to be in the UFC. That is the big show these days. There were other fights out there, there were other options, but everybody has been sending me messages, hassling me, telling me go to the UFC, 'Alistair, when are you going to the UFC?' ... I always want to fight the best guys, the best guys are in the UFC, so of course I want to fight in the UFC."

-Alistair Overeem talks to MMAFighting.com about getting stiffed by K-1 owners FEG on payment and now looking to his challenges in the UFC.

Penick's Analysis: The failure of FEG to pay fighters in Japan is one clear reason Overeem was more than willing to make the move to the UFC. Part of his deal with Strikeforce was to be able to make money elsewhere, including in K-1 with kickboxing. Going to the UFC exclusively meant those options aren't available, but considering he still hasn't been paid from his last foray into K-1 last year that's not really something he needs to have open anymore. If he is legitimately one of the top fighters in the heavyweight division, he belongs in the UFC, and it's great that he'll have an opportunity to make a statement in his debut against Brock Lesnar this December.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_10551.shtml

B J Penn