UFC fans were incredibly disappointed when news broke last week that Jon Jones suffered an injury in training that forced him out of his title defense against Daniel Cormier. Alistair Overeem was deemed responsible for the injury, and now one of his teammates is speaking out against his training habits.
Andrei Arlovski, another heavyweight who trains out of Jackson's MMA, has detailed his own run in with Overeem.
"A few days ago I was sparring with Alistair Overeem and experienced firsthand how it can end," Arlovski told Sports.ru (via Bloody Elbow). "As usual sparring goes: men represent strikes, touch each other, but do not tend to cause real damage to the partner. During one of the highlights of our sparring Overeem hit me with the hardest knee kick in the stomach. In a real fight would turn out for me by knockout."
Arlovski said he immediately went to the hospital to make sure his ribs weren't broken. He might have been forced to withdraw from his Sept. 13 bout with Antonio Silva, but everything turned out to be OK.
Overeem joined Jackson's MMA in April and was initially praised by his coaches and teammates. Jones, the light heavyweight champion and No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter, suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee and a sprained ankle while defending a takedown from Overeem in wrestling practice. That forced the highly-anticipated bout with Cormier to be rescheduled to Jan. 3.
"Now I know that Overeem injured Jon Jones simply because he injures everyone with whom he trains," Arlovski said.
Overeem is scheduled to face Ben Rothwell at UFC Fight Night 50 on Sept.5, his first fight since rebounding from back-to-back knockout losses with a win over Frank Mir in April.
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